Brent crude went above one hundred and three dollars on Thursday after vicious clashes in Egypt increased the possibilities of further unrest across the Middle East, intensifying the bearish effect of rising gasoline inventories in top consumer, the United States.

ICE Brent crude meant for March went up by one dollar and three cents to hit one hundred and three dollars and thirty seven cents per barrel, the highest price seen within a day after September 26, 2008. It was up by eighty eight cents at one hundred and three dollars and twenty two cents at 0419 GMT. U. S. crude meant for March went up by sixty six cents to ninety one dollars and fifty two cents.

Brent meant for the coming- month has gathered more than eight dollars since the clashes in Egypt started from about ninety five dollars a barrel on January 25. That nine percent gain in slightly over a week is more than thirty three percent of last year's total increase of twenty two percent.

The chance of infectivity to a nation that is very important for oil markets still remains relatively low, but it's the combination of that possibility and the importance of oil flows from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal that is building a first-rate into prices, said one commodities economist at National Australia Bank named Ben Westmore.

President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters had opened fire on Thursday on protesters who were camped out in Tahrir Square of Cairo. They have wounded at least seven people, as stated by witnesses.

The crisis had rung alarm to western governments who have considered Mubarak as a bulwark of stability in a volatile region, and has raised the prospect of unrest spreading across the Middle East and North Africa, which jointly produce more than thirty three percent of the world's oil supplies.