Oil surges close to $100/barrel
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February soared to $99.20 in late afternoon deals -- touching the highest level since October 1, 2008 and not far from the psychological level of $100.
The Brent contract, which expires at the close, later stood at $98.66 a barrel, up 60 cents from yesterday's closing level. March becomes the front-month contract on Monday.
Meanwhile, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February, slid 47 cents to $90.93 per barrel.
"London's benchmark Brent crude touched on highs above $99 ahead of February expiry on Friday," VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
"It is because it's the last day of trading for the February-contract, and the market is rolling into March," he added, and also citing volatile light trading volumes.
In recent days and weeks, oil prices have been catapulted higher as recent freezing winter weather stoked hopes of rising energy demand in Europe.
At the same time, the market has been propelled by the weaker dollar, supply problems and falling energy reserves in the United States.
On Wednesday, Brent oil had spiked close to $99, boosted as the key Trans-Alaskan pipeline remained shut following a leak that struck over the weekend.
The key link reopened yesterday.