Oil reached a new record high yesterday in New York–$62.30 a barrel—on news that Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd died. The news wasn’t exactly a surprise (the king had been ailing for 10 years), nor did it set off a power struggle (Crown Prince Abdullah, who has been the kingdom’s defacto ruler for a decade following the king’s debilitating stroke in 1995, assumed control). But today’s stability masks the potential for unrest in the not-too-distant future.