The price of oil rose to a record above US$96 a barrel Thursday after a surprise drop in U.S. crude stockpiles raised concerns about supplies for coming winter demand, reported ap. It was the second week in a row the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a sharp and unexpected drop in oil inventories. «The decline in U.S. crude oil inventories has been a key driver of oil prices,» said David Moore, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose as high as US$96.24 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before dropping to US$95.28 a barrel by afternoon in Europe.
