LONDON, Nov 1: The price of oil on Thursday rocketed to a record $96.24 per barrel on worries over tight supplies, before sliding on profit-taking, dealers said.

“The market is quite volatile, it is pretty choppy,” BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian said in London.

After striking fresh highs, New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, stood at $93.57 a barrel, down 96 cents from Wednesday’s close.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery also raced to an all-time peak on Thursday of $91.71. The contract later traded at $90.23, down 40 cents on the day.

All eyes were on whether the price of crude would soon reach $100.

“It’s a tough one to call because a lot of people are expecting it and perhaps hoping for it,” Tchilinguirian said.

Prices turned around sharply on Wednesday after the US Department of Energy revealed that US crude inventories had tumbled by 3.9 million barrels last week against forecasts for a gain of 400,000 barrels.

“At this time of year, we should certainly be substantially building stocks, so to get draws on crude is never good for the refining industry and it shows that the market is decidedly nervous,” said Robert Laughlin, a broker at Man Financial.

Oil prices were also been boosted by the Federal Reserve’s move on Wednesday to cut US interest rates by a quarter-point to 4.50 per cent. That pushed the European single currency up to a record $1.4504.—AFP