国际英语新闻：Oil may hit $100 a barrel in 2011

NEW YORK, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices reached a two-year high last week, mainly boosted by more economic recovery signs. Traders and investors are expecting oil to continue rising in 2011, given the worldwide economy recovery, weaker U.S. dollars and demand-supply gap. Gone are the days of low oil prices, said Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), in a recent interview with Xinhua.

OPTIMISTIC ECONOMY RECOVERY BOOSTS MARKET

The price of crude oil has been surging of late on renewed optimism regarding the state of the global economy, Birol said, adding that in this context, oil is set to rise and low oil prices have "gone."

Conley Turner, Wall Street Strategies' senior research analyst, echoes with Birol, saying: "The outlook for the price of oil to reach the psychologically important level of 90 dollars per barrel is very much a foregone conclusion."

"In fact, prevailing expectation is for this to occur by the end of the year. Traders and investors are actually already looking to the next benchmark of 100 dollars per barrel level to be attained by the end of 2011," he told Xinhua.

According to Li Shanquan, portfolio manager of the Oppenheimer Gold and Special Minerals Fund, "Economies of the United States and China, the two biggest oil demanders, are giving more positive signs."

Li said he felt optimistic about the recovery in the United States and China.

"U.S. problems mainly lie in the housing markets, and other industries are still dynamic, and the economic recovery would like to speed up gradually," he said.

And China's economy, despite inflation pressure and tightening monetary policies, will continue to grow at a fairly quick speed, he added.