Oil Surges Near $132-A-Barrel Over Price Rise Speculation

New York, NY (AHN) - Oil prices hovered around $132-a-barrel mark, after it continued its rally on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.

Crude started to rise on Thursday and within 24 hours, it jumped by as much as $7.76 per barre over a weakening U.S. dollar.

Oil gained upward momentum after an analyst projected that prices could hit $150 by July 4.

Crude gained $4.01 to $131.80 a barrel in New York Friday after the dollar headed for a weekly loss against the euro.

On Thursday, the contract soared by $5.49, or 4.5 percent, which was a historic single biggest hikeat Nymex, to settle at $127.79 a barrel, increasing to $128.38 a barrel in after-hours trading.

In London markets, Brent crude for July delivery was up $2.66 to $130.20 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

An additional boost to oil prices came after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said in a press conference to explain today's decision that the central bank may raise main interest rates in July to deal with the untamed inflation.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their key interest rates unchanged at a six-year high today to fight inflation.

In recent currency trading, the dollar remained weak against the euro on Friday as the 15-nation eurozone currency climbed up by 0.2 percent at $1.5606 per euro.

In other commodity trading, the price of heating oil rose 7.88 cents to $3.7596 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 0.0315 cents to $3.366 per gallon.

Natural gas prices rose 0.113 cents to $12.632 per 1,000 cubic feet or thermal units.

The national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline decreased slightly by 0.003 cents to $3.986, according to a report by AAA.