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Prices rose 35 cents to $71.38 by 11.30am this morning, while dated Brent spot also followed suit, rising 47 cents to $70.08 a barrel, according to Bloomberg prices.

It rise follows Obama's announcement of plans to allow the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to police and prevent fraud in the derivatives markets.

As part of the changes, the US government is also seeking new record-keeping and reporting requirements on all over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.

The proposed move is hoped to increase transparency, lead to fewer and less speculative transactions pushing up prices to levels that could be damaging to the US and world economies.

Meanwhile, today's rise in oil prices also comes after data released yesterday (17 June) by the US government showed a fall in oil stock supplies.

The US Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles in the US had fallen by 3.9 million barrels over the past week.

The data also showed that crude oil prices averaged $40.13 per barrel in the first quarter of 2009, down by more than half from the peak average of $118.04 per barrel recorded in Q2 2008.

Concerns that supply will struggle to meet demand when the economy recovers are helping keep oil prices high as world economies appear to show signs of a slight recovery.

Last July, oil prices hit a record of $147 a barrel compared with prices in January of around $42 a barrel.