World oil prices rose to a new record high above 55 US dollars a barrel Friday, stirring fears of 60-dollar-a-barrel New York crude, as concerns about the global supply of heating oil persisted ahead of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures for December delivery rose 70 cents to settle at 55.17 dollars a barrel, while, on London's International Petroleum Exchange the December Brent crude-oil futures contract climbed 50 cents to close at 51.22 dollars per barrel.

The latest report from the US Energy Department showed US inventories of distillate fuel, which included heating oil and diesel, declined for the fifth consecutive week, leaving supplies nearly 10 percent below the year-ago levels. Meanwhile, oil stocks in Western Europe and Japan were also reported lower.

Demand for heating oil was typically strong in cold

winter, anddemand for jet fuel typically rose during the Christmas season because of extra flights.

Soaring oil prices represented a "significant shock" to the US economy, but the longer-term impact should be manageable, Federal Reserve policymaker Ben Bernanke said in a speech in New York on Thursday.

The days of cheap oil appeared to be over, he said.

Only a yearago, the oil prices were about 30 dollars a barrel, but now are more than 80 percent higher.

Huge oil demand was running at 81 million barrels per day this year while producers are straining to meet it, with spare capacityof perhaps less than 1 million barrels daily, Bernanke said.

Still, disruptions in production and turmoil in key producers Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia continue to haunt the market.

The world's available production capacity is just slightly above 1 percent of the daily diet of 82.4 million barrels, leavinglittle wiggle room in event of a supply disruption.

Oil prices have gone up more than 10 dollars a barrel since mid-September because of production snags in the Gulf of Mexico, wheremore than 23 million barrels have been lost since hurricane Ivan hit.

Economists already have begun to lower their estimates for global economic growth in 2005, with Morgan Stanley saying last week it had changed its forecast to 3.6 percent from 3.9 percent, warning that there may be ``more cuts to come.''

Affected by the higher oil prices, Wall Street stocks tumbled on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 107.95 points, or 1.1 percent, to 9,757.81 points. The NASDAQ composite index declined 38.48 points, or 2 percent, to 1,915.14 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 10.75 points, or 1 percent, to 1,095.74 points.

On the NYSE, declining stocks outnumbered advancers about 9 to 5, and the trading volume was heavy at 1.84 billion shares.

Source: Xinhua