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Nov 1, 2007 Oil price exceeds US$96 a barrel, nearing all-time peak SYDNEY - OIL leaped nearly 2 per cent to top US$96 (S$139) on Thursday, nearing its all-time peak after an unexpected sharp fall in United States crude stocks and data showing strong economic growth. The rise was also supported by a drop in the US dollar, which fell to record lows against the euro after the US Federal Reserve cut rates by a quarter percentage point. The rate cut also boosted the attraction of commodities as an investment. US oil for December delivery rose as high as US$96.21 a barrel in electronic trade. By 10.49am it was up US$1.50 at US$96.03. December Brent crude also hit its record high of US$91.63, up US$1 on the day. Oil soared US$4.64 or over 5 per cent on Wednesday, its biggest one-day gain in 10 months, after US data showed an unexpected 3.9 million barrel drop in crude stocks last week, most of it at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point. 'The US inventory report has reaffirmed the belief that market conditions are tightening and oil prices are ratcheting up higher on that basis,' said Mr David Moore, a resource analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). Two rate cuts by the Fed to stave off fears of recession also have added liquidity to financial markets by making it cheaper to borrow, and some analysts say the extra cash has been drawn to energy markets. Oil prices have surged more than 50 per cent since the start of the year, and have risen about 18 per cent in the past month alone on winter supply worries, speculative buying and a succession of record lows in the US dollar. Prices are now nearing the inflation-adjusted high of US$101.70 seen over the course of April 1980, but the economy of the world's biggest energy consumer has shown surprising resilience to high oil prices, growing at a brisk clip in the third quarter. -- REUTERS USD 100 is coming