TIMELINE - Oil's wild ride: Price moves since 2008

Reuters - Oil prices rallied for a fifth day on Wednesday to top $75 a barrel for the first time this year, stoked by a weak dollar and surprisingly strong China trade data that underscored a recovery in the world's No. 2 oil consumer.

Markets have been steadily rising after a dramatic collapse to near $30 a barrel in December and January, from a record peak of almost $150 in July last year.

Here is a brief timeline charting the price highs since January 2008.

Jan. 2, 2008: U.S. crude briefly breaks the $100 barrier for the first time on the first trading day of 2008. Prices rise fairly steadily through the first half of the year.

March 5: Despite new record price highs of over $104 a barrel, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps more than a third of the world's oil, says it will not put more oil on the market. It says there is enough oil, and blames U.S. economic "mismanagement" for global prices.

June 6: Prices surge $11 to a record high near $139 a barrel on a slumping dollar and mounting tensions in the Middle East. Soaring crude leads a frenzied broad-based commodity rally on U.S. grains and oilseed futures markets.

June 7: Average retail price for regular gasoline tops $4 a gallon for the first time in the United States.

July 11: Oil peaks at $147.50 for Brent and $147.27 for U.S. crude.

July 15: A sell-off begins after remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicating a significant fall in demand in the United States, the world's top consumer.