LONDON, Aug 3: World oil prices hit historic highs on Wednesday on supply concerns but later fell slightly after a surprise jump in US crude stockpiles. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, dropped 27 cents to $61.62 per barrel in early deals after earlier hitting a record $62.50. That beat Monday’s record of $62.30, made on the back of lingering concerns about energy supply levels later in the year.

In London on Wednesday, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September lost 22 cents to $60.42. It had earlier reached a new record high of $61.26, which beat the previous record of $60.98, also set on Monday.

US crude inventories jumped by 200,000 barrels to 318 million barrels in the week ending July 29, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said Wednesday. A drop of about 1.4 million barrels had been expected by analysts.

“If you look at the crude numbers they are on the bearish side because the stocks were flat rather than drawing as we all expected,” Societe Generale analyst Deborah White said.

Stockpiles of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, climbed by 1.5 million barrels to 127.3 million, below analysts’ expectations for a rise of 2.0 million. Gasoline, or petrol, stocks dropped by 4.0 million barrels to 205.2 million, far more than the drop of 800,000 predicted by analysts.—AFP