Crude oil crept back over the $30-a-barrel mark Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid market uneasiness about OPEC's caution over whether to raise production to dampen sizzling prices.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, wheat futures increased and cocoa fell after hitting a 2 1/2-month high.
Oil prices have fallen back below the key $30 barrier several times since peaking above $34 in March only to climb back above it, usually after either careful statements or studied inaction by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Speculation about OPEC's course produced that result again Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose 42 cents to $30.20 a barrel.
OPEC ministers are still widely expected to hike output soon, at their June 21 meeting in Vienna if not before.
Under an agreement adopted in March, they are authorized to raise production by 500,000 barrels a day if the 20-day average of a marketbasket of OPEC crude oils tops $28 — which equates to $30 on the New York Merc.
The average hit that magic number for a second day Friday, but there was still no action by cartel leaders.
"We are being very careful and carrying out studies before implementing the price band mechanism," Venezuelan oil minister Ali Rodriguez said.
Adam Sieminski, an energy analyst for Deutsche Banc Alex Brown in Baltimore, suggested OPEC is playing with fire if it allows prices to remain this high for long, since competitors will be encouraged to step up the hunt for oil.
"If OPEC keeps these prices at this level, what they'll have is great prices for 2000 and '01 and a downward crash in '02," he said. "At $30 a barrel, the industry can find oil with a blindfold on."
Major oil companies remain cautious with their drilling budgets so far, but "over the next six months that caution is going to be dissipated" if prices don't drop, Sieminski said.
Tightness in U.S. gasoline markets also is helping the price of oil remain high.
Among other energy commodities, July heating oil rose .06 cent to 74.23 cents a gallon, July unleaded regular gasoline rose .85 cent to $1.0182 a gallon and July natural gas rose 2.7 cents to $4.16 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, July Brent crude from the North Sea rose 51 cents to $29.58 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.
Wheat rose about 1 percent on the Chicago Board of Trade after the Department of Agriculture scaled back its estimate of the U.S. winter wheat crop, the result of a months-long dry spell.
Prices also were supported by hot, dry forecasts for China next week and a declining world wheat stocks forecast.
July wheat rose 3 1/4 cents to $2.69 3/4 a bushel.
Cocoa tumbled on profit-taking after traders first extended a rally that has seen prices rise due to dry-weather concerns involving the next big round of crops in West Africa.
September cocoa settled down $18 at $877 a ton after peaking at $915 on New York's Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.