Oil Rises to Nine-Month High, Nearing $70 a Barrel

Crude oil futures rose to a nine-month high Tuesday, closing at $69.10 a barrel, the highest New York Mercantile Exchange closing price since Sept. 1, Bloomberg reported.

The 1-cent gain from Monday's close was due in part to concerns that a planned strike in Nigeria this could crimp supplies,

The Nymex closing-price record for crude of $77.03 was set last July, based in part on Middle East supply concerns due to fighting between Israel and Lebanese militias.

Despite the recent surge in oil prices — it had closed at $64.76 on June 8 — retail gasoline prices have fallen almost 21 cents in the past four weeks and diesel’s price has generally trended downward, though it crept up 1.3 cents on Monday.