Oil price hits record above $142

The price of crude oil has surged to a record, breaking through $142 a barrel, amid concerns about the ability of producer nations to meet demand, reported The BBC.

In London, Brent crude jumped to $142.13 a barrel, while New York light crude climbed as high as $142.26.

Producers' group Opec has been under pressure to boost production, though recent reports have shown its members are split over whether to lift output.

Libya has threatened to cut production because the market is well supplied.

Libya's most senior oil official, Shokri Ghanem, said on Thursday he was looking into the possibility of cutting oil production in response to US threats against oil producers.

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would allow the Justice Department to sue members of Opec for limiting supplies of oil and setting prices. But the bill has not yet been voted on by the Senate and the White House has already said it would veto the bill.

There was also some scepticism among analysts about whether there will actually be a cut in Libya, because prices are so high.

"I doubt that any real effort in cutting output would be forthcoming, considering that pricing continues to hit new records," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst at Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

"There's no economic reason to cut output at this time, so it's just talk."

The chief executive of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, has been talking down the influence of Opec.

Saying that Opec had no real impact on prices, he told the Financial Times: "Not a single decision has been passed of late that would really influence the global oil market."

He also said that the world was undergoing "a great surge in oil and gas prices, which will end with prices at a radically new level".

Mr Miller predicted that Gazprom would become the most influential company in the energy business.

Gazprom is currently holding its annual shareholders' meeting, which is expected to approve the replacement of its former chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now Russian president, with former prime minister Viktor Zubkov.