Oil Closes Week Near $126 a Barrel
Oil futures jumped for a fifth straight day Friday, shooting past $126 a barrel for the first time and closing the week near that level on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Associated Press reported.
Prices soared $9.64 this week to finish Friday’s Nymex trading session at a closing-price record $125.96 a barrel, AP reported. Futures had topped out at $126.25 earlier in the day.
The increases were fueled by a weak U.S. dollar and supply concerns about Venezuelan supplies, AP said. Venezuela is OPEC’s third-largest supplier.
Heating oil futures, which are a close proxy to diesel fuel, and gasoline futures also hit records on the Nymex on Thursday, Bloomberg reported.
Demand for diesel fuel is growing worldwide, but supplies of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, fell last week, the Department of Energy said Wednesday.
That is in turn pushing U.S. diesel prices to record highs and inflating heating oil prices in the futures market, AP said.
