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July 6, 2005 7:15 AM, EDT

The price of crude oil closed at $61.28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange as Tropical Storm Cindy struck the Louisiana coast, heightening supply fears, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

The close represented a new record high for crude oil, breaking the previous high of $60.95 set on June 27.

Tropical Storm Cindy forced several oil companies to close their drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and closed the largest oil import terminal in the U.S., the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. The port handles about 1 million barrels of oil imports each day.

With Cindy moving inland, oil companies turned their eyes to Tropical Storm Dennis, which Bloomberg said was expected to strengthen into a hurricane sometime Wednesday.

Traders and analysts fear that the oil prices could be forced higher by storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last September, Hurricane Ivan damaged production platforms and pipelines in the region, cutting oil production by a total of 43.8 million barrels, Bloomberg said.