Wednesday, May 24 2006 09:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Oil prices shot higher on global markets yesterday (May 23, 2006) after forecasts of a potentially devastating Atlantic hurricane season prompted renewed fears of damage to US Gulf Coast petroleum installations.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, rallied 1.80 dollars to close at 71.76 dollars per barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery advanced 1.65 dollars to 71.00 dollars per barrel in closing trade.

Futures prices moved higher "As the US Government predicted another active Atlantic hurricane season," according to analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm in London.

"We're simply injecting some storm premium into the market instead of geopolitical risk premium and we pushed higher enough to touch off some chart points and that brought in some fresh speculative buying into the end of the complex," said analyst Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates.

New York crude had fallen as low as 67.42 dollars yesterday, last seen April 7, mirroring losses across all major commodity markets.