Oil prices set another record Tuesday, at one point trading well above US$114 a barrel.
Light, sweet crude went up to $114.08 a barrel after regular trading ended, before settling down for the day at $113.79. That's up $2.03 from Monday's record close of $111.76.
The previous intraday trading record of US$112.21 was set last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"I think we're in for a new era in oil where higher prices are here to stay," said John Stephenson, an oil industry analyst with First Asset Funds.
"We've seen 35 years go by without a major discovery in the oil patch anywhere in the globe."
Stephenson also noted increased demand outside of Europe and the U.S. is also raising oil prices.
"Unless you think people in Asia are going to go back to riding bicycles and give up their cars, I think we're into an era of high oil (prices)."
Tuesday's surge follows a further weakening of the U.S. dollar and disruptions to crude supplies.
The main factor behind the spike in prices was a decline in the value of the American dollar in comparison to the euro, say analysts.
As the dollar loses ground, investors tend to seek refuge in hard commodities such as oil and gold.
"We've seen another swing down in the U.S. dollar so I think we saw short-term traders go back into oil as a hedge against the falling dollar," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at the ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia.
BNN's Linda Sims also said supply disruptions in Mexico have contributed to the rise in crude oil prices.
"That's all it takes, is just a little bit of news that there might be some supply problems and the price of oil heads up again," Sims told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
Sims said the jump in oil prices is creating a spike at the pumps.
"Because we've seen such an appreciation in the Canadian dollar over the last few years, as the price of oil rose -- as long as the Canadian dollar rose as well -- we didn't get hurt as much at the pump," said Sims. "We haven't been rising anymore, we've been sticking around parity.
"Now, in recent months, we've been watching the price at the gas pumps head higher."
With files from The Associated Press
