Crude Oil Hits $100 a Barrel
Crude oil futures hit $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time, as global petroleum demand continued to outstrip supplies, the Associated Press reported.
Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, AP said, before slipping back under that level to close at $99.62, a record, Bloomberg reported.
Prices slipped slightly in early trading Thursday but were still near $100, the Associated Press reported.
The Energy Department reported Thursday that crude inventories fell by 4.1 million barrels last week.
Gasoline stockpiles gained 2 million barrels and distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 570,000 barrels, DOE said in its weekly inventory report.
Surging economies in China and India have pushed petroleum prices to record high levels in the past year, AP reported, and this week's violence in Nigeria, a major oil producer, helped push prices higher.
Oil’s previous record closing price was $98.18 a barrel, set on Nov. 23. That was followed Nov. 26 by a record price for retail diesel fuel of $3.444 a gallon.
The Department of Energy will release its weekly inventory report Thursday for crude oil, gasoline and distillates, a category that includes diesel and home heating oil.
DOE said Monday the average national price for retail diesel fuel rose 3.7 cents to $3.345 a gallon, while gasoline prices jumped 7.3 cents to $3.053.
