LONDON - The price of New York crude struck a fresh 11-month high point on Friday, above 76 dollars a barrel, owing to tight US supplies, while London's Brent oil traded close to its historic high.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, surged to 76.10 dollars per barrel -- the highest level since August 8, 2006.
Later Friday it stood at 75.93 dollars, up 91 cents from Thursday's close.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery gained 15 cents to 77.12 dollars per barrel after a peak of 77.98.
The August contract had struck 78.40 dollars on Monday, close to Brent's all-time high of 78.64.
"In our view, the oil market is highly overheated at present, irrespective of some news that has favoured prices," Commerzbank analysts said.
"The actual shortage is being overestimated by market players," they added in a research note.
Oil prices strengthened this week after official data that revealed an unexpected dive in stockpiles of US gasoline.
US motor fuel inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended July 13, to 203.3 million barrels, leaving them 4.5 percent below their year-earlier levels, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said Wednesday.
Last week's drop in gasoline inventories compared with analyst forecasts for a rise of 700,000 barrels.
It came as gasoline consumption last week neared 9.71 million barrels per day, its second-highest level on record.
Gasoline stockpiles have been a focus for the market because of current high demand for motor fuel as Americans take to the roads for their summer holidays.
Prices had rallied on Thursday also after French energy giant Total said a problem with a generator at its its 220,000 barrel-per-day Dalia oilfield in Angola had shut in around 50 percent of output at the field.
Oil prices have risen strongly since last week when the International Energy Agency raised its 2008 forecast for oil demand by 2.5 percent to 88.2 million barrels a day.
The IEA has called for the OPEC producers' cartel to pump more crude, notably during the ongoing driving season.
However, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has repeatedly insisted it does not plan to raise output.
Leading OPEC member Iran said Tuesday there was no need for an emergency meeting of the cartel to discuss high oil prices, saying the market was already well-supplied with crude.
07/20/2007 13:51 GMT