The price of crude oil was approximately $25 a barrel just prior to the invasion of Iraq. Now we sit at $140 per barrel and the only people benefiting are the oil companies, OPEC and defense contractors.

Oil surged to a new record high on Monday of nearly $140 a barrel, propelled by weakness in the U.S. dollar which offset the bearish impact of plans by Saudi Arabia to boost output.

U.S. light, sweet crude for July delivery was up $3.74 at $138.60 a barrel by 1317 GMT, after falling as much as $1.40 a barrel, or about 1 percent, earlier in the session.

U.S. crude set a record high of $139.89 a barrel.

London Brent crude was up $3.05 at $138.16.

Prices leapt as the dollar fell after publication of data from the New York Federal Reserve that showed manufacturing in the state of New York contracted in June for the fourth time in five months.