Oil prices surge above $135 a barrel

Tokyo: Oil prices surged above $135 a barrel for the first time on Thursday.

Prices have risen by more than 33 percent in the past five months, with this rally prompted by a surprise drop in projected U.S. crude oil stocks and a weaker dollar.

The July NYMEX crude contract soared past the $135 mark per barrel on the Globex electronic trading Platform, sparking fears of a massive spike in prices.

It had reached a high of $133.17 in New York trading.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that for the week to May 16 domestic crude stocks fell 5.4 million barrels to 320.4 million barrels.

It had been predicted that they would announce a 600,000 barrels rise in stocks.