Oil Soars to Record High

The cost of a barrel of oil surged to yet another record high Wednesday as the dollar dropped and inventories fell.

Benchmark contracts for light sweet crude oil rose $2.37 to $110.87 a barrel in New York. Earlier in the session, the price hit $112.21, its highest level ever.

The iPath Crude Oil(OIL Quote) exchange-traded fund, which tracks the price of crude, was jumping 2.6%.

The move higher came after the Energy Department said crude stores last week declined by more than 3 million barrels, whereas a build of about 2.3 million barrels was expected. Gasoline inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels, around 400,000 more than anticipated, and distillate stocks slid by more than twice the amount that was predicted.

The relatively weak dollar also helped during the session. The cost of a dollar-denominated asset, such as oil, tends, to rise as the value of the U.S. currency declines.

Stocks in the sector were rallying also, buoyed by the rising price of energy. Shares of BP(BP Quote) were up about 1.8% in recent action, while Chevron(CVX Quote) was ahead by 0.9%.

ConocoPhillips(COP Quote) was climbing 0.3%, and Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote) was up 0.1%.