Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Rick Faurot]

New record for oil

Crude touches $45.15 a barrel on concerns that Najaf battle may spark sabotage.
August 12, 2004: 10:04 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices touched record levels Thursday as an escalating battle in Iraq, approaching storms in a U.S. production region and continued uncertainty about Russian exporter Yukos led to more speculative buying.

At 10:02 a.m. ET, U.S. light crude for September delivery rose 32 cents to $45.12 a barrel in electronic trading. It earlier rose as high as $45.15, 11 cents above the record high for New York crude futures of $45.04 struck Tuesday.

London's Brent crude rose 31 cents to $41.88, after hitting a new peak of $42 a barrel earlier in the session; the previous all-time high was $41.70.

Iraq's oil exports were running at half normal levels for the fourth day in a row Thursday as officials decided to limit some capacity following sabotage threats as U.S.-led forces move to quiet an uprising in the holy city of Najaf.

A pipeline sabotage attack late Monday has already cut loadings from Iraq's two offshore Gulf terminals -- which account for all the country's exports -- to 960,000 barrels per day compared with 1.9 million normally.