Egypt Unrest Sends Asia Oil Prices Over $100

New York, NY, Feb. 1, 2011 -- The price for Brent crude topped $100 per barrel on Monday for the first time since 2008, largely on unrest in Egypt.

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 prices for months.

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.