The price of US crude struck a record high of $94 a barrel this afternoon on news that US oil stockpiles fell sharply last week.
New York's main futures contract beat the previous high of $93.80 set on Monday. Weekly figures showed that US crude stockpiles fell by 3.9 million barrels, countering expectations for an increase.
At the same time, Brent North Sea crude jumped to $90.74, which also smashed last Monday's record of $90.49. Some traders said the latest rise was being driven more by speculators than concerns about supply in the US.
Those views were echoed by the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), whose Secretary-General Abdel Aziz Abdullah al-Turki said the oil market was no longer driven purely by demand and supply factors, but by speculators.
