NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil futures shot above $140 Thursday after OPEC's president said crude prices could rise well above $150 a barrel this year and Libya said it may cut oil production. The advance raised the likelihood that gasoline prices would also extend their march higher, and that prices of goods and services throughout the economy would also keep rising.

Light, sweet crude crossed the $140 level minutes before the New York Mercantile Exchange closed Thursday, then retreated slightly to settle up $5.09 at a record $139.64. In after-hours electronic trading, prices rose as high as a record $140.39.

Oil's latest milestone came as Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he believes oil prices could rise to between $150 and $170 a barrel this summer. Khelil also said prices will decline later in the year, and aren't likely to reach $200 a barrel.

Khelil joined a long list of forecasters who have made bold oil price predictions this year. Each new forecast -- such as Goldman Sachs' recent prediction that prices could rise as high as $200 -- causes a jump in prices as speculative buyers are drawn into the market.

Meanwhile, the head of Libya's national oil company said the country may cut crude production because the oil market is well supplied, according to news reports.

"Shokri Ghanem, the nation's top oil official, declined to say when a decision would be made on whether to

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Anheuser-Busch Cos. rejected an unsolicited $46 billion purchase offer from InBev Thursday, just hours after the Belgian brewer appeared to set the stage for a hostile takeover bid.

Anheuser-Busch Chief Executive August Busch IV sent a letter to InBev Chief Executive Carlos Brito saying the offer greatly undervalued the largest U.S. brewer, calling the $65-a-share price "financially inadequate" and not in the best interests of its shareholders.

"From your standpoint, we see that now could be opportunistic timing for you to make this acquisition, given the weak U.S. dollar and sluggish U.S. stock market," Busch said in the letter. "From the standpoint of the Anheuser-Busch shareholder, however, a transaction with InBev at this time would mean forgoing the greater value obtainable from Anheuser-Busch's strategic growth plan."

Earlier in the day, InBev filed a suit in Delaware court, where Anheuser-Busch is incorporated, seeking to officially declare that shareholders can remove all 13 members of Anheuser-Busch's board. Such a declaration could be the first step to rally Anheuser-Busch shareholders to accept InBev's offer, even if management is opposed to it.

"This is an extremely aggressive step," said Douglas Cogen, a mergers and acquisitions attorney with the Fenwick & West law firm in San Francisco.

In most acquisitions, a rejection from the target company's board of directors might draw out a sweeter

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is setting up a new chain of command amid the turmoil triggered by the embattled Internet icon's snub of Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover bid.

Under the new pecking order announced Thursday, Yahoo executive vice presidents Hilary Schneider and Ash Patel are being given expanded responsibilities over the Sunnyvale-based company's products and sales teams.

Schneider, a former newspaper executive, has been moving up the ranks since she joined Yahoo in September 2006. Patel has played a key role in developing many of Yahoo's most popular products, including its finance section and instant messaging service, since joining the company 12 years ago.

Yahoo also is reorganizing its technology division in an effort to use its computing power more effectively and improve the coordination between its product developers and engineers.

This is the third time in 19 months that Yahoo has redrawn its management chart as it tries to snap out of a financial malaise that has ravaged its stock price, jeopardized its independence and demoralized employees.

In the other two shake-ups since November 2006, chief operating officer Dan Rosensweig and Chief Executive Terry Semel resigned.

This time, both of Yahoo's top executives -- co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang and President Susan Decker -