Crude oil prices rose for the first season in four Tuesday after the US government reported that as much as 96 percent of production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut by Hurricane Dennis.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for August delivery climbed 1.70 dollars to end at 60.62 dollars a barrel. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, the August Brent crude-oil futures contract rose 1.38 dollars to settle at 58.82 dollars per barrel.

The oil production losses reported by the government were higher than people expected. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Emily, the fifth storm since the June start of the hurricane season, formed in the Caribbean and could reach the Gulf next week. The latest US energy inventories report would probably showed a bigger-than- expected decline in crude oil supplies.

The US Energy Department also raised its estimate of crude oil prices for the third quarter by 12 percent to an average of 59.17 dollars a barrel. Crude oil would average 57.50 dollars per barrel in 2006, a 6 percent increase from last month's forecast.

Source: Xinhua