To make things worse prices may increase further because the Federal Reserve is expected to announce a quarter-point interest rate reduction to bolster economic growth.
Crude oil for December delivery rose to $93.26 a barrel at 10:43 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange after touching $93.67. Futures climbed to $93.80 on Oct. 29, the highest since trading began in 1983. Oil is up 58 percent from a year ago.
Brent crude oil for December settlement rose to $89.90 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent reached $90.49 a barrel on Oct. 29, the highest since trading began in 1988.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month to raise output by 500,000 barrels a day starting Nov. 1 to help ease prices that threaten economic growth. The move failed and prices have jumped 17 percent since the Sept. 11 announcement of the increase.
Oil-consuming countries must certainly apply pressure on OPEC to increase output, but in the short term we don't anticipate a production increase above 500,000 barrels a day...therefore real pressure must be applied to all factors that are causing this abnormal crude /dollar fluctuation records.
Not all is bad news for Europe a weak dollar also cushions European consumers somewhat against higher prices, but there are some Goverments and oil companies that simply ignore this weak dollar situation and continue to increase final consumer prices...so here in Portugal we continue to have one of the worlds most expensive consumer price for any type of energy...
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