The daily 'basket' price, which serves as an OPEC reference and is based on crude prices from 11 member countries, hit an historic high of $62.13 a barrel on Thursday, the cartel said today.
The basket price, published with a one-day delay, went up $1.05 from Wednesday to reach $62.13 yesterday. This latest figure is 31 cents higher than the previous record of $61.82 set on Monday. Before that, the record level was $61.37, set on September 2, 2005.
The latest surge came as uncertainties loomed over oil supplies in Iran and Nigeria and as the US prepared for the high-travel season.
The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, estimated that high oil prices 'were exacerbating' economic instability around the world, increasing the risk of a crisis, in a report partially published in the Spanish daily Expansion today.
World oil prices eased on Friday as profit-taking emerged after recent gains, while there were also hopes that production at some Nigerian fields could resume soon after recent attacks. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, dipped $1.04 to $66.90 a barrel.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery slid 63 cents to $67.21 a barrel.
