Forex

Oil prices rose close to record highs on Wednesday as official data revealed a drop in stockpiles of US crude, traders said.

Brent North Sea crude oil for August delivery jumped $2.60 to $143.26 a barrel.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August, added $1.98 to $141.95.

The US Energy Information Administration said today that stockpiles of crude had fallen by 2.0 million barrels in the week to June 27.

Amid falling inventories, OPEC secretary general Abdallah el-Badri said in an interview published today that US authorities should stop harassing the organization's member nations to pump more crude.

"As the world's major power, I want them to stop harassing OPEC countries," he told the Spanish newspaper El Pais, when asked about a move by the US Congress to allow the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for conspiring to restrict supplies or drive up prices.

"With the boycott of Libya, the boycott of Iran and the problem created in Iraq, there are five to six million barrels per day lacking on the market," the Libyan official said.

He also argued that sky-high oil prices were not due to "the myth" of the lack of supplies -- as Western nations contend -- but to speculation sparked by the subprime home loan crisis in the United States.

"In reality, it's all quite simple to explain: the subprime crisis last summer in the United States had a bad effect on stock markets. Investors are looking for other (financial) products and commodities have become the most attractive for speculation," el-Badri said.