Oil prices surge on Iran nuclear pledge

OIL prices soared through $60 a barrel for the first time after the new president of Iran pledged to develop a nuclear power programme.

Increased instability in the Gulf and in fellow major oil producer Nigeria prompted one leading minister of producers' cartel Opec to warn this weekend that the price could hit $100.

In overnight trading, the price of US crude for August delivery rose as much as 63 cents to $60.47. Brent crude was also pushed to all-time highs, 59 cents dearer at $58.95.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new president of Iran, immediately rebuffed overtures from the US to talk through his nuclear plans. Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer.

Of its nuclear development, Ahmadinejad, one of the insurgents who toppled the Shah of Iran in 1979 and regarded as an ultra-conservative, declared: 'It is Iran's right.'

Analysts said the oil price is unable to brush off such political uncertainty in the Gulf at a time when traders are already pushing the price ever higher by making big bets that the US - the world's biggest consumer - could be short of oil come the peak season next winter.

Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil warned that, even if Opec turned up the taps, instability in a triumvirate of major producers such as Iran, Iraq and Nigeria could send prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange through $100 a barrel.

Bruckhaus Deringer, acting for the company in England, Hassan in Gibraltar and Linklaters for the banks, and accountants BDO Stoy Hayward.