LONDON, Aug 10: World oil prices struck new record high points in London and New York on Wednesday, despite a US stocks report deemed bearish by analysts, and as traders focused on refinery fears and geopolitical concerns.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, surged $1.36 to $64.43 per barrel — the highest level since it was first traded in 1983.

The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September jumped $1.48 to $63.46 per barrel on Wednesday, after striking a historic $63.64 shortly beforehand.

“The market is holding well and the market reaction was surprising because the numbers were bearish,” one European analyst told AFP.

“The geopolitical concerns are still worrying after a week full of incidents at refineries, the last one of which being today in a unit at the Texas City BP refinery,” he added.

The price of light sweet crude has risen by around 42 per cent and Brent North Sea by 50 per cent in one year.

US stockpiles of crude posted a surprising increase in the week to August 5, jumping by 2.8 million barrels, the Department of Energy (DoE) said in its weekly report. Market forecasts had been for a 600,000-barrel fall.

Stockpiles of distillate products, including heating oil, rose by 2.6m barrels. But gasoline (petrol) reserves fell by 2.1m barrels over the week, the DoE said.

“The gasoline draw was a little bit larger than expected, so I think this will support prices,” Refco analyst Marshall Steeves said.

The build in crude stocks meanwhile confounded expectations because of two unforeseen factors, he added. “First and foremost there was an increase in imports, which I don’t think anybody foresaw.”

Crude imports reached an average 11.1 million barrels per day over the week, the second highest ever figure, according to the DoE.

“Also refinery utilization was lower, which was also unexpected. It means that refineries are not using as much crude, so as a consequence of that we got a larger-than-expected crude build,” Steeves added.

Oil prices have surged to new highs also on security concerns in the Middle East and disruptions to overwhelmed refineries in the United States and Europe, according to analysts.

Underscoring those problems, British energy giant BP said on Wednesday it had closed a gasoil hydrotreating unit at its huge petrochemical complex in Texas City, southern United States, because of a leak.

No one was injured and there was no explosion or fire, while none of the other units were affected at the refinery — BP’s largest in the US — which produces around 470,000 barrels per day.

“The market in general has an upward bias now, the sentiment is bullish overall,” said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with US energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.

After prices had surpassed $64 per barrel for the first time, the Organization of the Opec said it had boosted production in a bid to cool the market.—AFP