Crude oil hits record $84.05 as Turkey-Iraq row fuels supply worries

Mumbai: Crude prices rose above $84 a barrel in New York amidst mounting tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq and concerns about a fall in supply ahead of the Northern winter.

US crude rose to a record $84.05 a barrel in New York before settling at $83.69 a barrel. London Brent crude climbed 40 cents to $80.55 a barrel.

Crude oil rose to a record on concern Turkey may seek to quell the Kurdistan Workers Party rebels by invading northern Iraq, a country with the world''s third-largest oil reserves.

Northern Iraq holds some of the country''s largest oil fields, including Kirkuk, the source of much of Iraq''s exports.

Crude oil for November delivery rose 61 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to close at $83.69 a barrel at 2:50 pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a record settlement. Earlier, the contract touched $84.05, the highest since futures began trading in 1983.

Nymex futures were up $2.47, or 3 per cent, this week. They are up 37 per cent this year.

Brent crude oil for November settlement rose 40 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to close at a record $80.55 a barrel on the London- based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent was up $1.65, or 2.1 per cent, this week.

US crude oil inventories fell 1.67 million barrels to 320.1 million barrels in the week ended 5 October, the first decline in three weeks, a US Energy Department report showed.

OPEC''s daily shipments of crude oil are expected to rise 2.8 per cent in the four weeks to October 27 from the previous month. The group will load 24.49 million barrels a day, up from 23.82 million.