The price of oil soared $1.99 per barrel yesterday and another 51 cents today, closing at $103.71 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The spike in oil prices is in response to the shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17 over Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists. Oil traders expect the United States and Europe to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, which is the world's second-biggest oil exporter. This could cause oil supplies to tighten and push oil prices still higher.