Crude trades over 60 dollars

Crude oil prices rose to record highs again on Monday as a new worry was added to already existing concerns over oil supplies with the election of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad as the new president of Iran.

The second-largest oil producer in OPEC, Iran has been having trouble bringing its output to over its current level of 4 million barrels per day. Many experts believe that the only way that Iran’s output will be raised is to use more foreign technology and to seek more investment.

Mr. Ahmadi-Nejad, however, has ruled out any more foreign participation in Iran’s oil industry.

West Texas Intermediate August contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange went up for the third day in a row, closing at $60.54 after hitting an all-time high of $60.95 at one point during the day. WTI contracts through October 2006 were trading at over $60 per barrel.

In London, on the International Petroleum Exchange, Brent crude was up 94 cents to $59.30 per barrel. It also hit a new high as it briefly reached $59.59 per barrel during the day.

Nymex unleaded gasoline for July also was up, by 1.33 cents to $1.6690 per gallon, while July Nymex heating oil advanced by 2.06 cents to $1.6700 per gallon.

In London, IPE gasoil futures for July went up $8.75 to $532.75 per tonne, less than $10 off its record high of $542 per tonne.

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