Oil prices hit a fresh record high of US$51.48 on Wednesday as jitters continued ahead of a key report in Washington on the level of commercially available oil in the United States and Gulf of Mexico. At 0835 GMT, the price of crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was US$51.42 per barrel, just off its all-time high of US$51.48 hit minutes earlier. The recent rise in oil prices have been pinned on production snags in the U.S. section of the Gulf of Mexico, which is again expected to impact on the country's commercial crude and product inventories. Oil prices are nearly 70 percent higher than a year ago, but when adjusted for inflation, still remain around US$29 below the level reached in 1981. Later Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Department was scheduled to release its weekly petroleum supply report. The U.S. inventory of commercially available crude oil stood at 272.9 million barrels on Sept. 24, down 4 percent from a year ago, ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter months, when heating oil and jet fuel traditionally become a premium.
