A CHRONOLOGY showing key milestones in the price of crude oil since 1970:

1970: The official price of Saudi crude oil is fixed at 1.80 dollars per barrel

1974: Prices pass 10 dollars per barrel after the first oil shock, sparked by the Oct 1973 Arab-Israeli war

1979: Prices pass 20 dollars as the revolution in Iran causes a second oil shock

1980: Prices top 30 dollars for the first time and progress to 39 dollars in early 1981 at the height of the war between Iran and Iraq

Sept-Oct 1990: Prices sneak above 40 dollars per barrel amid tension over Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait

Aug 2005: Prices rise above 70 dollars when Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf of Mexico, damaging major offshore oil installations

Dec 28, 2007: Oil prices hit 97.79 dollars per barrel after the murder of Benazir Bhutto and following a sixth successive weekly drop in US crude reserves

Jan 2, 2008: Prices hit 100 dollars

May 9: More problems in Nigeria increase concerns over supply, with prices breaching 126 dollars.—AFP