Oil Closes at 29-Month High
Oil closed at a 29-month high near $100 a barrel on continued concerns about Middle East political unrest, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures finished the trading day Tuesday at $99.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — the highest since Sept. 30, 2008, when it finished at $100.64, Bloomberg said.
That previous high was the last time oil closed a trading day over $100 a barrel. Prices were then in decline from the record highs of that summer; oil’s record closing price was $145.29 a barrel, on July 3, 2008.
Futures topped $100 a barrel in pre-market Nymex trading Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing continued unrest in Libya.
Brent crude oil, traded in Europe, topped $116 a barrel, well over the price of the Nymex, which is based on West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded out of Cushing, Okla. The spread between the two has recently been much higher than the $1 or $2 it had been earlier this year.
