<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Oil price hits $US70 a
barrel</HEADLINE></STRONG></FONT>
<DIV class=adSpot-toolbox id=adSpot-toolbox-top><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV><!--articleTools Top-->
<DIV class=articleDetails><DATE><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>April 17, 2006 -
1:34PM</DATE><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><!--articleDetails-->
<DIV class=articleExtras-wrap>
<DIV class=islandad id=adSpotIsland><FONT face=Arial
size=2><SMALL></SMALL></FONT> </DIV></DIV><!--articleExtras-wrap--><BOD>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Oil prices hit $US70 a barrel in Asian trade today on
concerns over tight US gasoline stocks and continued fears the United States
could launch military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, dealers
said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>At 10.35am (1235 AEST), New York's main contract
light, light sweet crude for May delivery, was up 66 cents at $US69.98 a barrel
from its close of $US69.32 in the United States Thursday.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $US70
before easing slightly.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>AFP</FONT></P></BOD></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:jgoldie@snowy.net.au"></A></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>