Crude Oil Rises to Record Above $114 a Barrel as Dollar Plunges

(Bloomberg) — Oil rose to a record above $114 a barrel in New York for a second day as the dollar plunged to an all-time low against the euro.

The appeal of oil and other commodities as hedging instruments grew as the dollar sank as low as $1.5968 versus the euro. Oil is also gaining on demand from China, the world’s second-biggest crude consumer, where the economy expanded 10.6 percent in the first quarter, government statistics showed today.


“This bull market has got a long way to run,” Puru Saxena, Chief Executive Officer of Puru Saxena Ltd., said in a television interview. “We have severe supply-and-demand imbalances all across the commodities complex, whether it’s food, base metals, precious metals, energy.”

Crude oil for May delivery advanced as much as 71 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $114.50 a barrel, the highest since futures began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983. It traded for $114.17 at 11:20 a.m. London time.

Brent crude for June settlement rose to a record, climbing 85 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $112.16 on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $111.96 at 11:25 a.m. local time.

Gasoline and gasoil also increased to records. Gasoline for May delivery gained 1.40 cents to $2.895 a gallon in New York, while in London gasoil, the European version of heating oil, rallied $16 to $1055.75 a metric ton.

Bloomberg