Australia: Clouds loom as oil price soars and petrol hits $1.70

MOTORISTS face petrol prices of up to $1.70 a litre within days and could be paying more than $1.80 a litre by next month after fresh tensions in the Middle East pushed the oil price to a record high.

The bad news came as the Federal Government delivered its strongest hint yet that a new emissions trading scheme

That could mean even higher costs for motorists, who would be forced to cover the price of carbon embedded in the petrol they use.

…Macquarie Bank interest rate strategist Rory Robertson said the price surge was likely to have serious ramifications for the world economy, “sucking the life out of discretionary spending”.

“If the oil price is sustained at anything like the current level, the damage to global growth