How Oil Got to $114 a Barrel--the Real Scoop

April 15, 2008

Oil Prices Surge to a New High

  By JAD MOUAWAD  

Oil prices surged to a new high on Tuesday, rising to nearly $114 a barrel, as scattered pipeline interruptions and a weak dollar pressured a tight global market.

Crude oil futures jumped more than $2, to $113.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices have risen more than 18 percent since the beginning of the year.

Tuesday’s price set a record for oil and helped push gasoline to fresh highs. Retail gasoline averaged $3.39 a gallon, according to AAA, the automotive group. That is more than 50 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. Diesel prices have seen even bigger gains. Diesel now averages $4.12 a gallon, according to AAA, $1.18 more than last year.

The immediate driver behind higher oil prices has been a string of interruptions in pipeline operations in Nigeria and the Caspian region, as well as a shutdown of Mexican exporter terminals in the Gulf Coast because of bad weather. While small, these interrupt…