Transcripts

Oil Prices Get Pumped Up To A New High

SUZANNE PRATT: A milestone for oil today as prices topped $80 a barrel for the first time ever. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude futures surged $1.68 to settle at $79.91 a barrel. That's after briefly trading above $80 late in the session. Traders cheered $80 oil, bidding up prices in reaction to the Energy Department's latest report on oil supplies. Inventories tumbled by more than seven million barrels over the past week and are now at their lowest level in eight months. Oil trader Ray Carbone of Paramount Options says that reduced supply and continued strong demand means higher prices ahead.

RAYMOND CARBONE, OIL TRADER, PARAMOUNT OPTIONS: I think you're going to have to have some news to get to $100 a barrel in a short period of time. But over a long period of time, if the demand picture stays intact, and that's the key, I think we are eventually going to get to $100. It's just a question of when, in my mind.

PRATT: Also pressuring oil prices today -- tropical storm Humberto. Rough seas from the storm forced the closure of the Houston ship channel and raised concerns about energy production in the Gulf of Mexico.