Oil prices above $70 a barrel

LONDON: Oil prices surged to a record above $70 a barrel on Monday as one of the biggest hurricanes in US history disrupted oil and gas production in Gulf of Mexico.

The region is home to a quarter of total US oil and gas production. US crude oil futures jumped nearly $5 a barrel in opening trade to touch a peak of $70.80 a barrel, the highest front month price since the New York Mercantile Exchange began trading contracts in 1983.

It later traded up $3.14 a barrel, or 4.75 percent, at $69.27, trimming early gains after Hurricane Katrina was downgraded to a still-powerful Category 4 storm on Saffir-Simpson scale. reuters

Home | National