A member of OPEC signaled for the first time in months that the oil cartel might increase its output if prices keep rising, even as oil hit another record on Friday.

The comments from Libya's senior oil official, Shukri Ghanem, suggested a possible rift among OPEC members. Since the cartel's last meeting in March, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has argued that the market was not lacking in oil supplies and blamed speculators for driving up prices.

In recent weeks, prices have come under renewed pressure because of a string of export disruptions from Nigeria. Crude oil for June delivery rose $2.32, or 1.9 percent, to $126.01 a barrel in New York trading on Friday. Prices have been above $100 since early February.

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Since they last increased oil supplies in September, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have abdicated most of their responsibilities toward the market, arguing that the higher prices had more to do with investment flows than with supply and demand.

The problem for OPEC is that prices have become largely unhinged from real market factors. As the dollar declines and the economy slows, investment funds have moved into commodities like oil or gold, which they consider safer and more profitable than stocks.

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