Crude Oil Hits $66 a Barrel

MOTORISTS were braced for further pain today as oil prices hit a new high.

The cost of a barrel of US light crude oil reached $66 after output fell lower than had been forecast.

UK motorists pay an average of more than 90p a litre for unleaded petrol.

The AA Motoring Trust said the average British family owning two cars is paying pounds 23.32 more a month for petrol than at the start of the year.

Oil prices have risen in the past few weeks, driven up by fires and hurricane damage at US refineries.

Prices are 43 per cent higher than a year ago, although when adjusted for inflation are below levels seen in the 1980s.

Orrin Middleton, energy analyst at Barclays Capital, said: “I’m beginning to struggle to see crude moving a whole lot higher,” he said.