LONDON, Aug 1: World oil prices rose strongly on Monday, to record high above $62, mainly on concerns about possible fourth-quarter supply shortages, while markets shrugged off the death of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. The price of a barrel of the benchmark light sweet crude for September delivery rose to $62.30 but later fell back to $62.15 a barrel at 1820 GMT on the New York Mercantile Exchange — up $1.58 on Friday’s close.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September gained 99 cents to $60.36 per barrel after earlier touching $60.58. Ahead of the King Fahd’s death news, New York’s main oil contract traded at about $60.76 per barrel in electronic deals.

It gained about 40 cents after the announcement “in what can only be described as a classic ‘knee-jerk’ reaction”, said Mike Wittner, head of energy market research at CALYON.

“The main focus is still on refinery problems, with BP at the weekend closing a gasoline, or petrol, unit at the Texas City refinery,” analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm said.

Refineries are straining to produce enough heating fuel in time for the northern hemisphere winter later this year.—AFP