LONDON, Feb 20: World oil prices raced to an historic high of $100.40 a barrel on Wednesday as the market was driven higher by renewed global supply jitters, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, surged to the new record in US floor trade, beating the previous record of $100.10 that was struck the previous day.

Shortly afterwards, the New York contract stood at $99.80, down 21 cents from the close on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Brent North Sea crude for April delivery shed 72 cents to $97.84, after striking a record $98.70 overnight.

Prices have soared amid growing speculation that Opec, which supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s oil, may cut output at its March 5 meeting in Vienna, anticipating a fall in demand on the end of the northern hemisphere winter and a likely US economic slowdown, analysts said. “Supply worries and comments by some Opec members that the group might not raise output at their March meeting provided the catalyst for the sharp rally,” said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.

Prior to Wednesday’s new record, prices had traded in negative territory as many dealers opted to take profits following an overnight surge.

“Oil gained sharply on Tuesday supported by a combination of factors, including persistent supply concerns,” said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

“In addition to continuing worries over the ongoing row between Exxon Mobil and Venezuela, with the Latin American exporter threatening to cut more supplies to the US, investors are receiving more comments from various Opec members indicating no change or even a possible cut to the group’s supplies at its meeting in early March.”

Libya’s oil chief Shukri Ghanem said Wednesday that Opec will wait to see if oil prices hold around record highs of 100 dollars before making any decision on whether or not to cut output.

Ghanem told AFP that with prices at current levels, Opec would wait and see if $100 per barrel would prove to be the ceiling or if they would begin to fall back.—AFP