London, August 15: Oil prices stampeded to their highest for a decade on Tuesday on fears about low petroleum stockpiles and a frank admission by Venezuela about OPEC's perennial thirst for petro dollars.Benchmark Brent crude raced $1.27 or four per cent higher to $ 32.75 a barrel, sailing way above a previous peak of $ 31.95 hit on March 7, at that time the highest level since 1990.The price of the North Sea grade has roared higher by a fifth since August 1 on worries about low oil inventories in the United States, the world's largest energy market.Another spur has been tough talk by OPEC's Venezuela about the need of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for oil revenues to boost its members' economies. "We don't want prices to drop below the present level,"Chavez said on Monday on a tour of OPEC countries."If that happens we would be passing a death sentence on ourselves and our people." The 11-nation group, which pumps most internationally traded oil, suffered a savage drop in earnings from a price slump in 1997-98 that was rescued only by painful OPEC output cuts."It's a silly price. It's an extraordinary price. But you can explain this largely in terms of the trauma of 1997-98," said John Toalster, director of oil and gas research at SG Securities."It was really an incredibly difficult time and it won't be quickly forgotten. The thinking is - ``We suffered the price fall. Why shouldn't we enjoy the price recovery'', he said. Most OPEC exporters have been silently revelling in a swollen flow of oil revenues since they met in June to agree an output hike in a half-hearted attempt to cool prices.Steep gains on gas oil, a category of petroleum that includes heating oil and diesel, have also boosted crude. Gas oil hit post-Gulf War highs on the IPE last week.Statistics released by the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, have shown heavy draws in US. Oil inventories in the last few weeks to the lowest levels in 24 years and have underpinned much of the recent price rally.The latest batch of weekly API numbers for crude and refined products will be released after the close of dealings on Tuesday. The two-week bull market has so far shrugged off news on Monday that US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, in a meeting with oil analysts last week, again raised the topic of opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ease sizzling prices.Richardson discussed the option of releasing SPR oil but the spirit of the meeting did not suggest a release was imminent, said one analyst who was at the meeting."We hope that OPEC countries do keep an open mind about increased production when they meet again," Richardson said, referring to OPEC's September 10 gathering in Vienna. "But again we're concerned. The international market clearly needs more oil," he added.
