MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Crude futures top US$61 a barrel

Crude oil prices rose, close $61 a barrel in New York, as Tropical Storm Cindy in the Gulf of Mexico disrupted the arrival of shipments to the United States.

Bloomberg reports that the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the biggest U.S. oil import terminal, stopped unloading cargoes from tankers yesterday because of the approach of the storm.

The storm was forecast to make landfall last night or early today, the National Hurricane Center said. Prices rose to a record last week on concern that surging fuel demand may outpace supply this year.

"Any storm in the Gulf of Mexico, especially this early in the season, makes us nervous,'' said Michael Fitzpatrick, vice president of risk management with Fimat USA in New York. "Memories are still fresh. It was storms last year that helped get us in the current situation.''

Crude oil for August delivery rose $1, or 1.7 percent, to $59.75 a barrel at 12:44 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. Futures touched $60.95 a barrel on June 27, the highest since trading began in 1983. Prices are up 51 percent from a year ago.

Hurricane Ivan in September damaged production platforms and pipelines in the Gulf. Ivan cut a total of 43.8 million barrels of oil production and 172.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas output, according to the Minerals Management Service in June. States along the Gulf receive more than half of U.S. oil imports and are home to 50 percent of the nation's refining capacity.

The Atlantic Ocean hurricane season was forecast to be more active than normal this year, with as many as five major hurricanes, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last month. The season lasts from June through November.