OIL prices vaulted to a record $100 a barrel on Wednesday as violence in Nigeria, tight energy stockpiles and a weaker dollar triggered a surge of speculative buying, dealers said.

Oil’s climb to the psychologically key triple-digit price helped send stocks tumbling on Wall Street and further darkened an already gloomy economic outlook in the United States, which has been battered by a housing crisis and credit crunch.

The Wall Street retreat prompted a sellout at the Philippine Stock Exchange (Story on Page 10), but businessmen and analysts said $100 crude will not seriously affect the country’s growth.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. said oil prices breaching the $100 per barrel mark would cause little uncertainty as consumers had already anticipated the surge.

He said oil firms should go easy on raising pump prices as the price hike is offset by the stronger peso against the dollar.

Donald Dee, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said while oil prices are beyond the country’s control, authorities should ensure fair pricing by oil companies.

"Beyond these actions, we must pursue more vigorously alternative renewable energy," he said.

A study by the Bangko Sentral showed the country will have to fork out $127 million more for every dollar increase in oil prices.

Iluminada Sicat, director of the BSP’s department of economic statistics, said the peso’s appreciation would help temper the higher cost of oil imports.

Cyd Amador, BSP managing director of the BSP, said pump prices would have cost P2 more per liter last year if not for the peso’s appreciation.

Sicat said it was too early to tell if oil would stay at $100 per barrel this year.

Marcelo Ayes, senior vice president of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said indications point to a slowdown in the US economy this year.

That, he said, will have a dampening impact on the global economy, slowing the demand for oil.

"If recession becomes a reality, the whole global economy including Asia will slow. So the demand for oil will weaken," Ayes said.

Ayes said oil prices are not likely to stay at the $100 levels but probably "correct" to $80-$70 sometime within the year. He said oil prices could average at $85, still within the government’s assumed prices.

Ayes said the country’s dependence on imported oil has dropped to below 20 percent from 80 percent during the 1980s.

The White House said it would not open up the nation’s emergency crude oil reserve to lower prices. Two members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the cartel was powerless to bring the market down from its lofty height.

Crude prices jumped 58 percent in 2007, the biggest annual gain this decade. Oil prices have nearly tripled since 2000 — driven by rising demand in China and other developing countries, tight stockpiles and geopolitical turmoil.

Weakness in the dollar has added to gains across the commodity sector as investors supported the underlying value of products denominated in the softening currency.

Wednesday’s price surge of more than 4 percent came after suspected militant attacks in Nigeria’s main oil city, Port Harcourt, heightened concern over the potential for further disruptions in shipments from the world’s eighth largest oil exporter.

"With the military and the militant warlords engaged in a violent tit-for-tat, the risk for oil disruptions in Nigeria remains higher than in the past few months," said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix.

Frequent attacks by militant groups since February 2006 have driven thousands of foreign oil workers from the oil-rich Niger Delta and cut oil exports by about 20 percent.

Investors are also particularly sensitive to signs of further fund investment in commodities at the start of the year. The broad Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of commodities rose nearly 17 percent in 2007 as the sector rebounded from a loss in 2006.

A further decline in US crude stockpiles – already running at a three-year low – was also expected. Weekly government data will be released Thursday, a day later than usual due to the New Year holiday.

Stocks of crude in the United States were expected to have fallen 2.2 million barrels last week, the seventh straight week of decline, as refiners processed more crude, according to a Reuters poll.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, were forecast to have declined by 500,000 barrels. – Max Estayo and Reuters