FACTBOX: $80 oil still below inflation-adjusted record

(Reuters) - U.S. oil surged to a nominal all-time high of $81.24 a barrel on Tuesday. Adjusted for inflation, the average price for the year to date of $65.50 is still well below the $90 annual average of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the start of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.

The following table from the BP Statistical Review picks out key moments in oil market history. It gives average annual dollar-denominated oil prices in money of the day and the equivalent price in 2006 money. Prices are in dollars a barrel.

Year Money of Inflation

the day adjusted

1864 - Pennsylvania oil boom 8.06 104.35

1876 - Russian oil exports start 2.56 48.64

1948 - Rebuilding post World War Two 1.99 16.74

1974 - Arab oil embargo 11.58 47.54

1979 - Iranian revolution 31.61 88.13

1980 - Iran-Iraq war starts 36.83 90.46

1990 - Iraq's invasion of Kuwait 23.73 36.76

1998 - Asian economic crisis 12.72 16.22

2004 - China 2nd biggest oil consumer 38.27 40.83

*2007 Year-to-date average 65.50 65.50

NOTE:

1861-1944 - U.S. average

1945-1983 - Arabian Light posted at Ras Tanura

1984-present day - Brent dated

*2007 U.S. crude

Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2007