Crude oil futures settled at a record near $60 a barrel Friday as prices rose on speculative buying and fears of supply disruptions due to refinery glitches.
After climbing as high as $60 a barrel for the second straight day, light, sweet crude for August settled at $59.84, an increase of 42 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil futures fell 2.52 cents to $1.6504 per gallon, while gasoline futures fell less than a penny to $1.6557 per gallon. On London’s International Petroleum Exchange, Brent crude futures for August delivery rose 40 cents to settle at $58.40 a barrel.