LONDON, July 3, 2008 (AFP) - World oil prices hit record highs above 145 dollars per barrel on Thursday, as the market was energised by Middle East tensions, falling US crude reserves and the weak dollar, traders said.

Brent North Sea oil for August delivery surged to a life-time peak of 145.96 dollars in early morning trade.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, also touched a record high at 145.09 dollars a barrel.

'There is actually a chance we could see 150 dollars today,' said the latest daily Schork Report on energy markets published on Thursday.

The latest record-breaking price surge came after Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari had said that the key oil producer would react fiercely to any attack against it.

The secretary general of the OPEC oil exporting group said Thursday that it would difficult to replace the crude output of Iran if the country was attacked.

'If something happened in Iran, it is difficult to replace 4.1 or 4.2 million barrels a day,' Abdallah el-Badri told the daily newsletter of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid, referring to Iran's daily output.

'The price (of crude) of course will go up.'

Oil prices, which have doubled in value over the past year, were also driven by news that American crude stockpiles fell by 2.0 million barrels in the week to June 27.

The market found further key support from the struggling US currency, which makes dollar-priced commodities cheaper for foreign buyers and tends to encourage demand, analysts said.

The European single currency rallied against the dollar on Thursday ahead of a widely-expected eurozone interest rate hike from the European Central Bank.