US oil prices hit fresh record highs above $44 a barrel today after the head of the OPEC producers' cartel said there was little the group could do to cool red-hot markets.
US light crude struck $44.24 a barrel, the highest since crude futures were launched on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983. It later fell to trade around $44.
London's Brent crude followed suit, scoring $40.45 a barrel, a level not seen since the run-up to the first Gulf War when it hit an all-time high of $40.95.
"It's just up, up and away. There's no stopping it," said Mr Edward Meir, an analyst at Man Energy, adding some traders believed US oil at $50 a barrel was no longer inconceivable.
Oil prices have surged by more than one-third since the end of 2003 on worries that accelerating global demand has left supplies tightly stretched with little leeway for disruption.
OPEC President Mr Purnomo Yusgiantoro said today the cartel had no spare oil to hand to dampen prices.
"The oil price is very high, it's crazy. There is no additional supply," Mr Purnomo told reporters in Jakarta.
"Minister Naimi has said Saudi Arabia can increase production but they cannot do it immediately," he said, referring to Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for Saudi Arabia, the world's number one exporter.
Saudi Arabia has said it would produce 9.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, which would be just one million bpd below the country's full capacity.
Mr Purnomo's comments echoed those on Monday of Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil, who said OPEC had done all it could to stop this year's oil price rally.
"OPEC can do nothing," Mr Khelil told reporters in Algiers.