From 2 Dollars -- How Oil Prices Rose Over Years to make the poor poorer

Source: Al-Manar TV, 16-06-2006

Key milestones in the dollar price of crude oil from below two dollars in 1970 to Monday's record 139.89 dollars.

- 1970: The official price of Saudi crude oil is fixed at 1.80
dollars per barrel.

- 1974: The price passes 10 dollars after the first oil shock,
sparked by the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

- 1979: Oil passes 20 dollars as the Islamic revolution in Iran
causes a second oil shock.

- 1980: The price tops 30 dollars for the first time and 39
dollars in early 1981 at the height of the war between Iran and
Iraq.

- Sept-Oct 1990: Oil prices sneak above 40 dollars after Iraq's
invasion of Kuwait.

- March 2003: On the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the
price stands at just over 37 dollars.

- Sept 2004: Oil tops 50 dollars on concerns about the war in
Iraq.

- June 2005: The barrel shoots above 60 dollars.

- Aug 2005: Prices rise above 70 dollars when Hurricane Katrina
hits the Gulf of Mexico, damaging major offshore oil installations.

- Sept 12, 2007: Oil passes 80 dollars as the market worries
about the level of US stocks and increasing tension over Iran.

- Oct 18, 2007: The price breaches 90 dollars.

- Nov 21, 2007: A fresh record of 99.29 dollars is reached as
traders react to tight global energy supplies amid tensions between
Turkey and Iraq. Prices fall back below 90 dollars by the end of the
month.

- Dec 28, 2007: Oil hits 97.79 dollars after the murder of
Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and following a sixth
successive weekly drop in US crude reserves.

- Jan 2, 2008: Oil briefly hits 100 dollar levels on concerns at
violence in key exporter Nigeria.

- March 13, 2008: Oil hits 111 dollars.

- April 22, 2008: Prices spike to 119 dollars as OPEC sits tight
despite calls for increased output and the dollar tumbles.

- May 5, 2008: Crude breaches 120 dollars, then 130 dollars on
May 21 and 135 dollars on May 22 before falling back sharply on
heavy profit-taking.

- June 16, 2008: Oil hits a record 139.89 dollars, threatening
to breach the 140 dollars level and promising more gains.