Crude Tops $83 in Latest Record

Crude oil hit a new closing record Thursday, its sixth in seven trading days, as a tropical depression formed in the Gulf of Mexico that was on track to make landfall near New Orleans, Bloomberg reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures closed at a record $83.32 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.

The tropical depression —  which formed off Florida’s panhandle and was below the 39-mph threshold needed for a named storm — was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane, Bloomberg reported, citing the National Hurricane Center.

Since the record closing Nymex price of $78.23 last Tuesday, Sept. 11, oil has closed at a record every trading day except last Friday.

Futures closed at more than $80 for the first time on Sept. 13 and at more than $81 Tuesday and Wednesday of this week before Thursday’s new record close.