Carbon dioxide permits for December rose as much as 50 cents, or 2.1 percent, to 24.88 euros ($39.28) a metric ton in London on the European Climate Exchange, their highest since June 5. They were at 24.75 euros a ton at 10:57 a.m. local time.

Emission allowances have surged 39 percent in the past year as the European Commission, which regulates the EU trading program, cut 2008 allocations by 9.4 percent compared with 2007. Power utilities need less than half as many permits to burn gas as they do to produce the same amount of electricity using coal.

Prices may rise through 25 euros a ton by the end of this week if gas and crude oil prices advance further, said Carsten Schmitt, an emissions-market analyst at First Climate, a company recently formed by the merger of 3C and Factor AG, based in Bad Vilbel, Germany. ``The high prices for oil and gas provide a bullish sentiment for carbon prices,'' Schmitt said. First Climate is a

fund manager and emissions-credit developer.

U.K. gas for delivery in May rose 2.2 percent to a record 60.82 pence a therm, according to the ICE Futures exchange in London. That's equivalent to $12 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.

Coal for delivery in northwest Europe declined. The fuel for delivery to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp with settlement next year fell 45 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $130 a metric ton as of 9:28 a.m. in London, according to GFI Group Inc.

Crude oil for May delivery traded at $109.77 a barrel, down 37 cents at 10:47 a.m. London time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It reached a record $112.21 a barrel on April 9.