Article: Ulster consumers hit hard as oil prices soar to record high

This comes after the Belfast Telegraph revealed this week that motorists in Northern Ireland were paying more for fuel than anywhere else in the UK.

Add this crude oil price rise to hikes in food prices, home heating oil and air travel, and it looks like everyone will be tightening their belts in 2008.

Crude oil hit the $100 threshold on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday and sent shockwaves through the world's financial markets.

It means that oil prices, which had fallen to a low of $50 a barrel at the beginning of 2007, have now quadrupled since 2003 and rose 58% last year.

Analysts believe the strong demand for petroleum products in 2008 and a range of political tensions, ...

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