Price of Oil Tops $48 a Barrel on Thursday in New York

he price of crude oil futures in New York rose above $48 a barrel for the first time in its 21-year history, news services reported.

Crude oil for September delivery rose as high as $48.80 on Thursday morning on the New York Mercantile Exchange, spurred higher by renewed violence in Iraq, before ending the session at $48.70, a record close, Bloomberg reported.

The price reached $47.96 a barrel on Wedensday, which had been the highest since oil began trading in New York in 1983. The September contract expires on Friday.

Prices have set record peaks in all but one of the past 15 trading sessions and are up about $11 a barrel, or about 30%, since the end of June.