Crude Oil Hits Record High; Closes Above $60 For First Time

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rude oil prices hit a third record in three days Monday, climbing to $60.95 a barrel in intraday trading, a new record high, before receding slightly.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures fell from that level to close at $60.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, Bloomberg reported. It was the first closing price above $60 a barrel.

Futures reached the $60 threshold for the first time on Thursday, and hit that level on Friday as well.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria both said they backed raising output levels by 2% in an attempt to help ease prices, Bloomberg reported.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, is willing to boost its production to its full capacity of 11 million barrels a day, from the current 9.5 million bpd, Bloomberg said.

The Department of Energy will release its weekly diesel and gasoline price surveys Monday afternoon.

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