Brent oil price ends Friday trading over $77, 2009 high

Brent crude oil futures ended Friday trading up around one percent, oil price at $77.15 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange, the highest price in 2009 so far and the highest close since Oct. 13, 2008 $77.46. Brent oil prices traded from $75.39 to $77.21, the highest since $78.46 intraday high on Oct. 14, 2008.

Meanwhile, OPEC’s Secretary General has said that oil prices need to rise above the current $77 a barrel price to encourage more investment by OPEC member countries. Abdullah al-Badri said the average crude price was around $57 this year and needed to rise to around $65-70 for investments to be profitable in oil producing countries.

OPEC members have postponed around 35 oil investment projects since prices tumbled from their peak of around $150 a barrel last year, he said. “With a $57 average oil price, we cannot invest in new oil,” Badri told reporters. “To reach $77 as an average, we need a high price of more than $80.”