Record oil price still below inflation-adjusted high

U.S. oil surged to a nominal all-time high of $99.29 a barrel on November 21, boosting the annual average price to $69.97.

Adjusted for inflation, that is still below the $101.70 peak hit in April 1980, according to the International Energy Agency, a year after the Iranian revolution.

The following table from the BP Statistical Review picks out key moments in oil market history. It gives average annual dollar-denominated oil prices in money of the day and the equivalent price in 2006 money. Prices are in dollars a barrel.

Year Money of Inflation

the day adjusted

1864 - Pennsylvania oil boom 8.06 104.35

1876 - Russian oil exports start 2.56 48.64

1948 - Rebuilding post World War Two 1.99 16.74

1974 - Arab oil embargo 11.58 47.54

1979 - Iranian revolution 31.61 88.13

1980 - Iran-Iraq war starts 36.83 90.46

1990 - Iraq's invasion of Kuwait 23.73 36.76

1998 - Asian economic crisis 12.72 16.22

2003 - China 2nd biggest oil consumer 38.27 40.83

*2007 Year-to-date average 69.97 69.97