Oil prices scaled record highs of more than $95 a barrel in Asian trade on Thursday after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and following news of a surprise decline in US crude stocks.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, was trading at $95.26 a barrel, up 73 cents from its close of $94.53 a barrel in US trades, and smashing Wednesday's record of $94.74.
The New York contract earlier surged to an all-time intraday summit of $95.80.
Brent North Sea crude for December delivery also erased the previous day's intraday high of $90.94 to trade at $91.10, up 47 cents.
"The increase in oil prices was driven by the release of the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Petroleum Status report, which showed a large decline in US crude oil inventories," Australia's Commonwealth Bank said.
Oil prices, which had earlier slumped below $90 on Wednesday, staged a blistering rally after the Federal Reserve cut key US interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.50 per cent.
The cut is targeted to boost domestic consumption in the world's biggest economy and cushion the impact of a crisis in the US subprime mortage housing market which has been rocked by defaults. A healthy US economy prompts higher demand for oil.
{{/usCountry}}The cut is targeted to boost domestic consumption in the world's biggest economy and cushion the impact of a crisis in the US subprime mortage housing market which has been rocked by defaults. A healthy US economy prompts higher demand for oil.
{{/usCountry}}Oil prices also rose after the US Department of Energy's (DoE) weekly snapshot of energy reserves showed that crude inventories tumbled by 3.9 million barrels to stand at 312.