Oil climbed above $69 on Wednesday with London Brent crude hitting a new record high, ahead of U.S. data expected to show falling gasoline stocks and uncertain supplies from major exporters Iran, Nigeria and Iraq. U.S. crude traded 19 cents up at $69.17 a barrel by 0649 GMT, after a 24-cent gain on Tuesday, to take prices up 2.6 percent this week and within sight of a record $70.85 hit last August. London Brent crude gained 34 cents to $69.71 a barrel, a fresh all-time peak. The forward price of U.S. crude for delivery later this year has already powered well beyond the psychological $70 barrier, as traders see little chance of short-term solutions to political tensions and anticipate growth in already robust fuel demand during the northern hemisphere summer driving season. "Falling stocks coupled with greater and greater focus on geopolitics is keeping the oil price afloat at these high levels," said Andrew Harrington, resources analyst at ANZ. "We've moved beyond and above the levels where fundamentals count as much as what happens in Iran or Nigeria," he said. On Tuesday, Iran proclaimed it had begun uranium enrichment, which it says it will build to industrial-scale for power generation. The United States believes it wants to build a bomb. U.S. President George W. Bush has dismissed reports of plans for military strikes on the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter as "wild speculation", but traders fear diplomatic efforts may falter and that any potential sanctions could lead Tehran to disrupt oil supplies. China's envoy to the United Nations urged a diplomatic solution to the standoff on Tuesday, and said military and economic measures would be counter-productive.