NEW YORK, April 26. Spiralling petrol prices in the United States are fuelling pubic resentment against the Bush administration blamed for being hand in glove with powerful oil companies whose profits have reached trillions of dollars.

With petrol prices in many states topping $3.50 per gallon, up almost a dollar in one month, Mr Bush’s job approval rating is already the lowest of his administration (34 per cent in Gallup’s latest poll), and is down 13 points from last July.

Several events have conspired to drag down his rating, including Hurricane Katrina, the abandoned Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination, Dubai ports controversy and the Iraq war.

In the past, presidents have not fared well when gas prices were high. In fact, some of the lowest presidential approval ratings Gallup has ever recorded were measured at times when the nation faced a gas crisis. High gas prices hit Americans in their pocketbooks, and the tendency has been for them to take out this frustration on government leaders.

Noting that oil futures surged to a new high, above $75 a barrel, capping a record-breaking week on the commodity market, the New York Times said that the rise in oil prices, which ended with a $5 jump this week alone, came amid heightened concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, interruptions in Nigeria’s oil production and fresh fears about gasoline shortfalls in the United States this summer.

Crude oil for June delivery rose to $75.17 a barrel, up $1.48. Futures touched a trading high of $75.35 a barrel. Oil prices, up 23 per cent this year, have more than doubled in two years.

“It’s been a wild week on top of the previous wild week, coming after a wild year,” said Thomas Bentz, an oil broker with BNP Paribas in New York. “And it seems like there’s no slowing this thing down.”