US crude shoots above 51 dollars for first time

NEW YORK, Oct 5 (AFP) - New York`s main crude oil contract shot above 51 dollars a barrel for the first time Tuesday.
Light sweet crude for delivery in November soared 1.34 dollars to a record 51.25 dollars a barrel in mid-afternoon trade.
"It took the market a while to recognize how serious the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is," said PFC Energy analyst Seth Kleinman.
Oil traders worried about a US government agency report that 26.65 percent of the Gulf of Mexico`s 1.7 million barrels of daily oil production remained disrupted because of the hurricane season.
The Department of Interior estimated 453,092 barrels per day were missing from daily production. More than 15 million barrels had been lost in the past three and a half weeks, it said.