Crude Oil Climbs to Record $93.80 as Mexico Cuts Gulf Output

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil climbed above $93 a barrel in New York for the first time after Mexico shut a fifth of its production and the dollar fell to a record low.

State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, halted about 600,000 barrels a day of output as a storm passed through the Gulf of Mexico, spokesman Carlos Ramirez said in Mexico City. Early today, the dollar dropped to $1.4426 per euro, the weakest since the introduction of the 13-nation common currency in 1999.


“Such a massive shut-in by Pemex is bad for the market because they are such an important supplier to the U.S.,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at TFS Energy LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. “There are no bearish factors in the market right now.”

Crude oil for December delivery rose $1.59, or 1.7 percent, to $93.45 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures climbed to $93.80, the highest since trading began in 1983.

Brent crude oil for December settlement rose $1.53, or 1.7 percent, to $90.22 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent reached $90.49, the highest since trading began in 1988.

The oil market “may be only one or two events away from” $100-plus oil, Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, said in remarks prepared for a conference today at Georgetown University.

Bloomberg