Breaching the psychological barrier, crude oil closed above $100-a-barrel, which was an all-time record in nominal terms. The prices rose by $4.51 to close at $100.01 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after going as high as $100.10 in trading during the day, the third time in the year that oil prices crossed the $100-a-barrel barrier during a trading day1.

Reports indicated that the legal standoff between Hugo Chavez and Exxon Mobil during the last few weeks – with the former threatening to cut off oil exports of the US – was a factor in the price rise. An explosion in a refinery at Texas also brought back memories of the rise in the previous year after a similar incident. Other factors contributing to the price rise include burgeoning demand from China and India, production shortfalls in Nigeria and Iraq and fears of further production cut from the OPEC.

• 1. Clifford Kraus, “Oil closes above $100 for the first time,” The New York Times, February 19, 2008, at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/business/worldbusiness/19cnd-oil.html?...