Oil prices expected to rise through hurricane season

Crude oil prices were up Thursday as well, with July delivery West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 71 cents to $53.25 per barrel.

July contracts for IPE Brent were trading at $52.75 per barrel, up 70 cents. The coming of hurricane season, which began June 1, has sharpened fears that oil and gas supplies will be disrupted by weather conditions.

This is especially true in light of predictions that it will be another active year for storms in the Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico.

OPEC is trying to downplay fears of short supplies, meeting with European Union officials in Brussels and saying even ahead of its meeting in Vienna on June 15 that production will likely stay at its present levels, a 25-year high, and even holding out a possibility that production might increase.

Despite this, however, Barclays Capital is predicting that crude oil prices will hit at least $60 per barrel in upcoming months.