Oil Rises to New Record, Topping $76 a Barrel

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rude oil rose to record highs in New York and London markets, topping $76 a barrel for the first time following violence in the Middle East and in Nigeria, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil topped out at $76.85 in intraday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before receding to close at $76.70, a closing-price record.

Oil's previous record closing price on the Nymex was set last Wednesday, July 5, at $75.19.

Traders were reacting to militants bombing two oil pipelines in Nigeria and flaring violence in the Middle East as Israel attacked Lebanon in retaliation for cross-border raids from that country by Hezbollah guerrillas, Bloomberg said.

In London, Brent North Sea crude oil was trading at $75.43 after rising to a record $75.60 a barrel London's ICE Futures Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

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