Crude oil prices rise again over Egypt's riots

The price of crude oil rose again recently following concerns that embattled Egypt President Hosni Mubarak won't resign his office.

Protestors have besieged Egypt's major cities for the past few weeks calling for an end to the leader's 30-year reign. Mubarak took over the presidency after Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, Technorati reports.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $87.27 a barrel at 0706 GMT, up 54 cents in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 39 cents to $101.26 a barrel, meaning the spread between the two benchmark crudes stayed close to record highs.

Oil markets are nervous that prolonged instability in Egypt will spread throughout the Middle East, according to MarketWatch.