World oil prices pushed through $60 per barrel again in New York on Wednesday on mounting concerns that two tropical storms could threaten US oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, dealers said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, rose by 51 cents to $60,10 per barrel in electronic deals after earlier hitting $60,13. The contract had hit a record $60,95 per barrel on June 27 on supply worries.
In London on Wednesday, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in August gained 39 cents to $58,68 per barrel.
Oil prices continued to rise after rallying on Tuesday on ”worries over a possible disruption to US Gulf refinery output from Tropical Storm Cindy”, analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm said.
”Cindy, the third tropical storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, hit the Louisiana coast today [Wednesday].
”Distillate demand is unseasonably strong in the US, while there are fears that hurricanes could cut into imports and output of crude and refined products,” they added.
The US National Hurricane Centre issued advisories on Tuesday for Cindy, located in the central Gulf of Mexico, and Tropical Storm Dennis, in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
Tropical storms often develop into hurricanes. In September last year, a series of hurricanes devastated Gulf of Mexico production, causing prices to rise sharply. The 2005 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30.
Meanwhile, the traditional weekly snapshot of US crude inventories was pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday, because of the public holiday on July 4.
There was no trading in the New York contract on Monday, which was Independence Day.
The US government’s Department of Energy reported last week that crude oil reserves in the US, the world’s biggest oil consumer, rose by 1,1-million barrels to 328,5-million barrels in the week ended June 24.
Gasoline inventories climbed 300 000 barrels to 216,2-million and distillates increased by 1,7-million barrels to 113,2-million. — Sapa-AFP