Crude Oil Rises Following Talk of Potential ‘Superspike’

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rude oil futures rose Thursday on reports of a potential "superspike" that could push prices to as high as $105 a barrel by 2007, news services reported.

Light sweet crude oil futures rose $1.41 to close at $55.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following reports earlier in the day of a Goldman Sachs forecast that showed a big potential spike in prices that could push oil to the $105 per-barrel level, CNBC reported.

The Wall Street firm raised its overall oil forecast for 2005 to $50 a barrel from an earlier $41 projection and to $55 for 2006 from an earlier $40 estimate, news services reported.

Oil futures fell to as low $52.70 in intraday trading Wednesday after a Department of Energy report showed higher inventories than expected. They hit a record $57.60 a barrel on March 17, two weeks ago.