Crude oil today

Crude oil traded near new all-time highs above $124 today after the OPEC cartel insisted the market is well-supplied and being driven by speculators.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, rose 62 cents to $124.31 a barrel in Asian trade after closing at a record $ 123.69 yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In after-hours deals, the New York futures contract soared to an all-time high of $124.57. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was 78 cents higher at $123.62 a barrel.

In London yesterday the contract crossed $123 for the first time and jumped to a new intraday peak of $123.87 before settling at a record $122.84.

Oil prices have smashed one record after another in recent days. "The oil market is so overwhelmingly bullish at this point... It is looking at the $125 mark as its next target," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.

OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri yesterday said that there was no shortage of crude oil, brushing aside US calls for higher output to dampen runaway prices.

"There is clearly no shortage of oil in the market," he said. David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney, said El-Badri was reiterating OPEC's view and "his words are not a surprise to the market."