The weekly average oil price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) surged over 110 U.S. dollars per barrel and set a new record of 110.13 U.S. dollars last week, the Vienna-based cartel said on Monday.
The prices kept rising in the first three trading days and set three consecutive daily records: 108.93 dollars on Monday, 109.92 dollars on Tuesday and a peak record of 111.14 dollars on Wednesday.
The prices retreated slightly the following two trading days but still remained over 110 dollars, which laid a strong foundation for the weekly average prices surpassing 110 dollars.
Experts predicted prices would continue rising in the short run, attributing the surge to the persistent weak trend of the U.S. currency, the standpoint about no immediate output increase by OPEC, speculation, as well as the turmoil in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer.
Oil workers of ExxonMobil's Nigerian affiliate have been on strike, according to media reports. Meanwhile, anti-government militants destroyed a pipeline of Royal Dutch Shell.
International oil advisory body Petrologistics predicted OPEC's output in April would probably be reduced by about 100,000 barrels a day from March, mainly due to supply cuts from Iran, Iraq and Nigeria.
OPEC controls about 40 percent of the world's oil production and currently its member states produce an average of 32 million barrels a day. It is planning to spend 160 billion U.S. dollars over the next four years to increase daily output by 5 million barrels.
Source:Xinhua
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