LONDON, Oct 5 (AFP) - Oil prices roared up to new record high levels within a whisker of 51 dollars Tuesday on worries about supplies from the Gulf of Mexico, where almost 30 percent of production remains shut down.
The price of reference light sweet crude for delivery in November rose to as high as 50.99 dollars in early deals on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract smashed through a previous all-time summit of 50.47 dollars reached on Tuesday of last week.
In London the price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in November scaled a new historic summit of 47.15 dollars.
At around 1600 GMT prices were up 90 cents at 50.81 dollars in New York and 64 cents higher at 46.83 dollars in London.
"The market is stronger today, one of the reasons being data in the United States showing that a lot of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is still shut in after the hurricanes," said Prudential Bache broker Christopher Bellew.
About 28 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's 1.7 million barrels of daily oil production remains disrupted because of the hurricane season, according to the US Minerals Management Service, a government agency.
Close to 15 million barrels of output has so far been affected, equal to 2.45 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's annual oil production.
"As a result, people are worried that the build they are expecting in crude stocks tomorrow may not be very big," said Bellew.
The US Energy Department releases its weekly estimates of US commercial oil inventories on Wednesday.
"The market is starting to focus on the inventory data, which is probably going to show a decline in heating oil and distillate stocks and only a very small increase in crude stocks," said Investec Securities analyst Bruce Evers.
"There is a risk that the data will show a tightening market," he added.
US crude commercial stocks showed a surprise increase last week after tumbling to their lowest levels since February a fortnight ago.
The Department of Energy said last week crude oil reserves rose 3.4 million barrels in the week to September 24 to 272.9 million barrels, a week after a spectacular drop of 9.1 million barrels due to Hurricane Ivan.
The oil price in New York had slipped below 50 dollars a barrel Monday as rival gangs in the oil-rich Niger Delta signed a ceasefire.
Two rebel groups fighting for control of oil resources in the Niger Delta region signed a government-brokered ceasefire and disarmament agreement late on Friday after months of violence.