Oil field closure ignites oil prices

WASHINGTON
The price of a barrel of crude oil trading for delivery next month rose $2.22, or 3%, to $76.98. That just missed the record, not adjusted for inflation, of $77.03 hit July 14. Adjusted for inflation, the record was more than $86 in 1981.

The increase came after energy company BP on Sunday began shutting down its 250-square-mile Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska after the discovery of heavy pipe corrosion in several spots and a small leak in a transit line. BP officials said Monday that shutting down the entire field would eventually reduce production by 400,000 barrels a day. That accounts for about 8% of U.S. production or 2.6% of daily U.S. supplies including imports.

USA Today