NEW YORK (AFP) — Global oil prices surged to fresh highs Thursday as traders watched a new storm in the Gulf of Mexico, with Brent crude in London topping 80 dollars a barrel for the first time.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, closed 2.58 dollars higher at 82.88 dollars a barrel.
Earlier it had traded as high as 83.00 dollars, approaching the all-time intraday high of 84.10 dollars reached last week as another storm threatened Gulf operations.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery topped 80 dollars for the first time, closing at a record 80.03 dollars a barrel, a gain of 2.60 dollars.
Brent's previous record high was 79.94 dollars, reached on September 20.
Tensions in the market were heightened on news that a storm developing in the Gulf of Mexico could affect oil production facilities, analysts said.
The Gulf of Mexico is a leading oil-producing region for the United States and Mexico and investors are worried that, during the long Atlantic hurricane season that ends in November, a storm will damage oil rigs and other infrastructure.
"Markets have become very sensitive to rough weather after a storm briefly shut down nearly two-thirds of US oil production in the Gulf, leading oil to a record 84 dollars a barrel," said Bart Melek, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
According to the US National Hurricane Center, a tropical depression is heading toward the coast of Mexico and could become a tropical storm later Thursday.
"If something happens in North America and supplies get interrupted, that automatically causes scarcity in the market," Melek said. "Then you will be calling on European supplies, Middle East supplies to fill the gap and that would create a tighter market globally."
Crude futures had ended mixed Wednesday after data showed American crude inventories had risen in the past week for the first time in almost three months last week.
The US Department of Energy said this week crude inventories had jumped by 1.8 million barrels in the United States -- the world's biggest consumer of energy -- during the week ended September 21.
The data compared with analysts' consensus forecasts for a fall of 2.15 million barrels.
The weak dollar was also lending support to oil prices as foreign investors find it cheaper to invest in the dollar-denominated commodity, analysts noted.
Earlier Thursday, the US currency plunged against the euro to a fresh all-time low point of 1.4189 dollars.
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