In the end of February and beginning of March a series of new oil price record was reached. A quick look back gives such events as: “On Feb. 28, the April contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes shot up to a record $102.97/bbl in intraday trading on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange before settling at a record closing of $102.59/bbl, up $2.95 for the day. “, “The May contract jumped $2.87 to $102.25/bbl.”, “On the US spot market, West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Okla., was up $2.95 to $102.60/bbl.”, “Heating oil for March delivery escalated by 7.45¢ to $2.85/gal on NYMEX. The March contract for reformulated blend stock for oxygenate blending (RBOB) advanced 1.8¢ to $2.50/gal.”

The last week was no different and meant even new price records for a barrel of oil, over 110 dollar/barrel. The latest record was a flirt with 112 dollars/barrel (Upstream) [1]. Some claim this is a result of the weakened dollar and this might be a part of the explanation, however the oil price has risen significantly in euros too. Other see this as a sign of an even tighter oil market.

Iran has recently stopped using the American dollar as the dominating currency for its oil trade (Reuters) [2]. Venezuela has also started to make contracts in euros instead of dollar and this have been confirmed by the oil minister Fafael Ramirez (Rigzone) [3]. Several other countries have expressed similar intentions (Xinhua) [4], (Kuwait Times) [5]. This could weaken the dollar even more and send oil prices even higher.

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