Oil Prices Set Another Record at $35.10 a Barrel

Oil prices shot above $35 per barrel today for yet another all-time high on the futures market, as traders responded to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s statement that his citizens should be ready for war.

Ann-Louise Hittle, a senior oil analyst with Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc., said the Iraqi leader “made it clear he is not going to retreat, and I think that has got the market on edge again about the possibility of military escalation.”

In late morning trading today on the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude sold as high as $35.10 per barrel on November contracts. Crude contracts for November delivery opened at $34.05, up 63 cents from Thursday’s close, and prices remained near that level as of midday.

This morning’s rise, amid heavy volume, became the latest in a series of records oil has been setting throughout the week. Oil had first risen above $33 per barrel on Monday and surpassed $34 on Thursday.

Before this week’s activity, the high futures price of $32.35 per barrel had stood since 1983.