The shutdown of oil platforms, refineries and pipelines along the Gulf Coast drove energy prices to new highs Tuesday. Oil prices briefly jumped above $70 a barrel.
Light sweet crude for October delivery rose $2.70 to settle at $69.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had reached as high as $70.85, a new high on the Nymex, although still below the inflation-adjusted high of about $90 a barrel that was set in 1980.
September gasoline futures rose 41.44 cents to $2.4750 a gallon on the Nymex, where trading was halted briefly after the exchange’s 25-cent trading limit was reached. Heating oil futures climbed by 16.71 cents to $2.0759 a gallon.
*
Read the full Associated Press story
.
