Oil Soars Past $102; Fuel Prices Seen Straining Economy

Crude oil rose to more than $102 barrel in early trading Wednesday, the first time it has topped that level, Bloomberg reported.

The soaring prices could push gasoline prices to $4 a gallon this spring for the first time, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The impact of high fuel prices — diesel prices hit a record national high Monday of $3.552 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported — are putting added strain on the U.S. economy, the Times said in a front-page story.

DOE’s latest forecast released earlier this month predicted that gasoline prices would reach $3.38 a gallon in May. That would be near the inflation-adjusted record price for gasoline that was reached in early 1981, the Times said.

Oil producers are struggling to catch up with rising demand from China, India and the Middle East, which is expected to push oil consumption up by more than 1 million barrels a day every year for the next decade, the paper reported.