NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- The price of a barrel of crude oil hit a 21-year high Wednesday after Moscow pulled 1.7 million barrels a day of production off the market.
Russian authorities say they are trying to collect billions in back taxes from their nation's largest oil producer, OAO Yukos, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
As part of the government's crackdown on the firm, Moscow ordered Yukos managers to halt all its oil production, or 1.7 million barrels per day.
In response, crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange surged $1.21 to $43.05 a barrel, breaking the 21-year-old exchange's $42.45 record set in June.
In London, September Brent oil on the International Petroleum Exchange was 99 cents higher at $39.53 a barrel, a 14-year high.
Global crude oil producers, almost all of which are at full capacity, have less than 2 million barrels per day of spare capacity to compensate for the Russian shutdown.
In real, or inflation-adjusted, terms $43 is still only about half as high as in the early 1980s.
