The price of New York crude soared to a record high point of $78.71 per barrel today, after the US government said that American crude reserves had tumbled last week.
The record- which smashed the previous all-time high of $78.40 set on July 13, 2006 - came after the US Department of Energy revealed that US crude inventories sank by 6.5 million barrels in the week ending July 27.
However, in London today the price of Brent North Sea crude for September delivery fell 53 cents to $76.52 per barrel.
Oil prices have risen by 28% since the beginning of the year.
However, that has not slowed the strong growth in consumption, bolstered by economic growth in the United States and Asia.
Fuelled by fierce global demand and tight supplies, oil prices in London and New York have rocketed over the past two months by $12 to reach above $78 a barrel.
Today's new US record smashed the previous all-time high of $78.40 that was set on July 13, 2006, amid violence between Israel and Lebanon in the oil-rich Middle East.
It also beat London Brent's historic high point of $78.64 per barrel, which was set on August 7, 2006, after a pipeline spill forced British firm BP to close output from Prudhoe Bay, the biggest oil field in the United States.
Surging prices have sparked repeated calls from the International Energy Agency for the OPEC oil producers' grouping to hike output in order to calm the market.
However, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC, which pumps about 40% of global crude oil supplies, has insisted that recent oil price gains are due to geopolitical reasons and not tight global supplies.
The cartel holds its next output meet on September 11. At its last meeting in March, OPEC decided to hold its official production quota at 25.8 million barrels of oil per day.
