Gold soars as petrol is set to rise to six rands a litre

South African motorists face the grim prospect of having to pay more than six rands a litre for petrol in the near future as international oil prices continue to soar. Oil reached its highest level in nearly a year on Monday and closed on 71-dollars-12-cents a barrel on Monday. At the same time, gold has soared to a new 25 year record of 623-rands-70-cents a fine ounce. Economists say the high oil price is due to fears that there could be an interruption of supply because of the tension between Iran and the USA. America believes Iran intends producing nuclear weapons. President George W Bush on Monday refused to deny the possibility of nuclear strikes if Iran continues to defy international pressure to stop its nuclear programme.