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Oil Breaks Back Through $54 Barrier
Crude oil pushed back through the $54 threshold on Thursday after a pipeline explosion in Mexico stirred supply fears, but it eased slightly in the early afternoon. A continuing strike in Africa's largest producer, Nigeria, also affected prices as traders waited anxiously for key U.S. crude and heating oil inventory data due to be issued later Thursday. Oil for November delivery went as high as $54.17 per barrel during trade in the Asian morning on the New York Mercantile Exchange's after-hours dealing system, up by 53 cents from its final price of $53.64 in New York on Wednesday. By early afternoon, November crude had slipped back to $53.95 per barrel, still up by 31 cents from Wednesday. While oil prices are more than 60 percent higher than a year ago, they are still around $27 below the peak inflation-adjusted price reached in 1981.Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-10-14 |
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