Crude Oil Sets Record High Price

Crude futures soared to a new record high Tuesday after inclement weather forced Mexican national oil firm Pemex to close its fifth export terminal in the past three days.

West Texas crude for May delivery jumped $1.60 to $113.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude rose $1.71 to $111.55 a barrel.

Reformulated gasoline edged 3 cents higher to $2.85 a gallon, and heating oil gained 5 cents to $3.25 a gallon. Near-term natural gas advanced 17 cents to $10.22 per million British thermal units.

Pemex, the third-largest source of foreign oil to the U.S., has closed five export terminals since April 13. The latest is in the port of Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast. As many as 1 million barrels of daily throughput may be affected by the closings.

According to analysts at Barclays Capital Research, the disruption to Mexican oil exports will not have a lasting effect on global oil supplies. However, it serves "as a reminder that supply disruptions accentuate price fluctuations in a context of tight fundamentals, low inventory cover and little spare production capacity."

Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) announced that it restarted its Capline oil pipeline on Monday. The 1.1 million barrel-a-day pipeline had been closed since last Friday due to a leak.

Meanwhile, energy stocks were largely higher in the trading session. ConocoPhillips(COP) rose 0.9% to $80.55. Chevron(CVX) climbed 0.8% to $89.87, and Exxon Mobil (XOM) advanced 0.7% to $90.29.

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