Oil: Traders Bet on $80 a barrel in 2005

Bloomberg: Oil prices may increase to $80 a barrel this year, options contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange show. Investors are speculating OPEC won't produce enough oil to compensate for any disruption to supplies.

New York Mercantile Exchange data show 6,900 options contracts outstanding that allow buyers to purchase oil for December delivery at $80 a barrel, compared with an average of 77 contracts in January. There is a 21 percent chance that oil will top $75 when the December contract expires, according to Adam Sieminski and Michael Lewis, strategists at Deutsche Bank AG.

[..] The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the producer of about 40 percent of the world's oil, is pumping almost as much crude oil as it can to increase inventories before consumption peaks in the fourth quarter. Crude oil reached a record $60.95 on June 27, deepening concern that the cost of energy would slow economic growth.

Oil prices have surged 53 percent in the past year on concern that producers and refiners will strain to meet demand for products ranging from gasoline to diesel and heating oil. Read more