WTI hits $122 per barrel; Brent tops $120

Crude oil prices topped $120 per barrel in both New York and London on Tuesday, with prices hitting $122 per barrel in New York in electronic trade and Brent crude going as high as $120.35 per barrel in London.

Brent crude eased back to $120.28 per barrel, a gain of $2.29 over Monday’s price on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, while in mid-morning trade in New York, June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude had backed off slightly to $121.65 per barrel, $1.68 higher than Monday’s close.

The spike in prices, spurred by supply worries as demand in places like China and India have outpaced declines in demand in the United States, has Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) analysts predicting that crude oil could reach $150 to $200 per barrel within the next couple of years, and perhaps as early as the end of this year.