Traders are predicting the price of oil could reach $55 a barrel in the near future as the worldwide supply crisis deepens.
US light sweet crude was worth $53.63 a barrel in today's late morning trade in Singapore, just one cent short of Monday's record close in New York.
Brent crude, which is the recognised UK benchmark, was being traded at $50.55, having broken through the $50 barrier for the first time on Monday.
Prices will almost certainly be driven higher by rising winter demand for heating oil.
"Over the next three or four months we can expected higher prices," Tom James at Global Risk Partners told the BBC's World Business Report.
"Fundamentally, we're seeing very strong demand."
Traders say US crude prices could reach $55 a barrel in the weeks ahead, and might eventually rise as high as $60, piling more unwanted pressure on the fresh produce logistics chain.
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