NEW YORK | Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.
Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.
Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before slipping back, according to Brenda Guzman, a Nymex spokeswoman.
