Oil rose more than a dollar on Thursday, breaking well above $60 a barrel as an arctic chill gripped the heating markets of the eastern United States.
US crude ended up $1.48 to $60.69 a barrel, extending a week-long rally to more than 5 percent. Natural gas futures, meanwhile, surged to an all-time record over $15 per million British thermal units.
The gains came as a cold spell fired up furnaces from the US Midwest to the eastern seaboard in a trend that forecasters said could linger for another two weeks.
"We had a warm start to the winter but now it is starting to look a bit ugly. The focus will be on cold weather for some time to come," said Craig Pennington, global energy portfolio manager at Schroders.
Thursday's spike sharpened the focus on the Opec cartel, which will meet Monday in Kuwait to discuss production policy for the first half of 2006.
Several members of the group, which is already pumping crude near full capacity at 30 million barrels per day, have said a decision to change output is unlikely.
The US cold spell outweighed a government report Wednesday showing surpluses in crude and heating oil stockpiles of more than 10 percent.
Inventories have built up as US oil facilities made strides in their recovery following procession of hurricanes earlier this year that slashed a quarter of domestic output.
Brimming storage tanks forced the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only US offshore port that can handle supertankers, to turn away some crude shipments on Wednesday.
Previously unseen video footage from al Qaeda's deputy leader shown on Wednesday, urging operatives to "concentrate their attacks on Muslims' stolen oil" also supported prices.
Al Qaeda claimed a direct hit on Iraq's Basra Oil Terminal in the Gulf last year, while the key oil state's northern pipeline has been mostly idled by sabotage since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Still, analysts said it would be difficult to disrupt the well-protected fields and terminals of major exporters like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There have never been any direct attacks on Saudi oil facilities, despite repeated threats.
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