Brent Crude Oil hits $100 per barrel (for first time since 2008).

[Statistical]

Brent crude surged to $100 a barrel on Monday for the first time since October 2008 as mounting concerns about unrest in Egypt added to bullish demand expectations.

Brent oil, the benchmark for most European, African and Middle East crude grades, has steadily climbed from just over $70 a barrel in August 2010 as the economic recover stokes global demand.

Brent hit a record over $147 a barrel in July 2008, before the economic crisis hit demand and sent prices plummeting, dropping below $100 shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

U.S. oil rose to $90 a barrel, with high inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's futures contract prompting a steep discount to Brent.

Analysis from David Greely, Head of Energy Research at Goldman Sachs

"The road to $100 oil is really driven by the same factors as it was in 2008. We're still seeing rapid demand growth pushing up against limited supply. Getting back to this level was really just a matter of time. "This year the economic outlook for developed economies is also a lot stronger - last year the growth was really driven by emerging markets but we see stronger oil demand growth in developed economies as well. "We're not at the point yet where we see oil prices damaging the global economic recovery."

It is really suprising to see how far WTI (US oil prices in Cushing) are now lagging behind global indexes. Essentially this is a vote of no confidence that the rest of world economy is saying while US may be able to get (limited amounts) of low sulfur WTI for $90 per barrel the marginal capacity in other parts of the world is worth closer to $100.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/us-brent-oil-view-idUSTRE70U58E20110131