North Sea Strike sends oil near $120

Oil prices have hit a fresh high just below $120 a barrel after a strike at a UK refinery disrupted production from the North Sea.

BP shut down a key North Sea pipeline after staff walked out of the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland in a two-day strike over pensions.

Providing a third of UK oil output, the closure of the Forties pipeline has raised fears about supply shortages.

US light crude hit a high of $119.93 a barrel before edging down to $119.40.

Oil - A New High!

Today oil hit an all-time high of $107 a barrel.

The oil price is being supported by last week's decision by producers' cartel Opec not to raise supply, despite rising demand in China.

Many analysts believe that traders are also buying oil, priced in dollars, to protect the value of their money against the sliding currency.

A favourite topic: Oil breaks a new record

This week saw a new record high for oil prices -- here's how it got there?

More problems on the oil supply front.

In an apparent case of politically motivated sabotage, six explosions blew apart oil and natural gas pipelines operated by Mexico's Pemex state oil and gas monopoly early Monday in Veracruz and Tlaxcala states, causing fires and forcing the evacuation of 15,000 people from surrounding towns.

The blasts forced Pemex to shut down at least four affected pipelines and prompted federal authorities to close two major roads. No injuries were reported.

Mexico is the world's sixth-largest oil producer and a major supplier of petroleum to the U.S. The outages drove the price of oil above $78 a barrel in futures trading Monday.