The oil producing cartel Opec has sent out a warning that the crude price could keep increasing and could well reach $200 a barrel. Chakib Khelil, the Opec president passed the blame on the US dollar’s falling value that makes other assets, comprising oil, far more attractive for foreign investors. His remarks came as oil prices were just a tad below $120 a barrel. Oil prices were further lifted by an UK refinery strike, which disrupted North Sea production, plus supply problems in Nigeria owing to pipeline attacks.

BP shut down its key North Sea pipeline after staff walked out of the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland at the weekend in a two-day strike over pensions. Providing for almost a third of UK oil output, the shutting down of the Forties pipeline further raised fears about impending supply shortages. The BP-run pipeline from the North Sea’s Forties oil fields heavily relies on electricity and steam from Grangemouth’s Ineos refinery. US light crude reached $119.93 a barrel before finishing at $118.79 in the beginning of the week, passing the previous record mark of $119.90 a barrel achieved last week.

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