Brent crude price hits new record

The UK’s Brent crude oil hit a new record high of $53.15 a barrel in London trade on Tuesday.

Comments from several Opec members that they saw no need to raise output also weighed on market sentiment.

The EIA also upped its forecast for world oil demand in the second quarter of the year, adding that prices are set to stay near the mid-to-high $40 a barrel level this year and could move higher in 2006.
Crude futures are below the record level of $55.17 a barrel reached last October but remain more than 40% up on a year ago.

Soaring demand from China and concerns that global demand will outstrip production has helped push the price of oil up.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA), meanwhile, has said it expects US petrol prices to hit new record highs this spring, reaching an average of $2.15 a gallon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4330665.stm