Oil prices rose by nearly 11% on Tuesday on signs that Saudi Arabia has made substantial cuts in its crude exports.
Some estimates are that the kingdom has cut shipments by around 900,000 barrels per day from a peak in August. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month to reduce their output by by 1.5 million bpd.
US crude rose $US6.97 to $US70.88 a barrel by 1:31pm EST (1831 GMT). London Brent crude was up $US6.51 at $US66.99 a barrel.
Crude prices previously set a record of $147.27 per barrel on 11 July.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, other OPEC members are showing signs of reducing their output.
United Arab Emirates has reduced production to around 2.3 million bpd from around 2.5 million bpd.
The Algerian official news agency APS said on Tuesday that Algeria is reducing oil output by 71,000 bpd in line with OPEC's decision.
Qatar has cut exports to Asia by about 40,000 bpd.
