Oil Finishes Week Above $145 a Barrel

Oil finished a week of all-time highs by closing at a record of more than $145 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

In earlier trading, the price topped out at $145.85, an overall record high. The Nymex will be closed Friday for the July 4 holiday.

Thursday's closing price of $145.30 a barrel was still settling following the 2:30 p.m. close of trading in New York, Bloomberg reported.

Oil had set a record Nymex closing price of $143.57 a barrel on Wednesday.

The Department of Energy said Wednesday that oil supplies plunged by 2 million barrels last week — a drop of 800,000 barrels more than analysts had forecast, the Associated Press reported.

Distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 1.3 million barrels, DOE said in its weekly inventory report.

Gasoline supplies unexpectedly rose 2.1 million barrels for the week ended Saturday, but demand continued to slide, AP said.