The price of Brent North Sea crude oil broke through $70 a barrel for the first time on Thursday evening, fuelled by simmering tensions between Iran and the international community.
The price of Brent crude for June delivery jumped 34 cents to reach $70.20 before later falling back slightly to $70.15, an increase of 28 cents from Wednesday's close.
Brent has been striking record high points since Monday on market concerns that the US might launch military strikes at uranium facilities in Iran, the world's fourth largest producer of crude.
After talks with the head of the UN atomic watchdog, Mohamed El Baradei, Iran has repeated that it will not bow to demands to freeze uranium enrichment.
The new Brent record beat the previous all-time peak, set on Wednesday, when the contract reached $69.97 on news of falling US petrol stockpiles. Meanwhile, New York crude was trading up 28 cents at $68.90.
