Oil prices rise on Egypt unrest; Brent tops $100

An important oil price benchmark topped $100 per barrel on Monday for the first time since 2008, as investors kept an anxious eye on Egypt and worried about unrest there disrupting the flow of oil from the Middle East.

The price of Brent crude rose $1.59 to settle at $101.01 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Brent is used to price oil in Asia, where demand is growing fast, and in Europe, where a cold winter is leading to high demand for heating oil. Also, European supplies of oil from the North Sea have been falling steadily.

Brent crude has been trading far above U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, for months. Oil supplies at Cushing, Okla., where the U.S. benchmark is priced, have been rising, keeping its price below Brent.

The price of WTI rose $2.85, or 3.2 percent, to settle at $92.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That marks a two-session gain of about 8 percent. (more)