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Crude Oil Dips After Record Climb to $135

Chuck Marvin

Crude oil futures were dipping lower after earlier hitting a record intraday high above $135 a barrel in a volatile trading session at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

West Texas crude was last trading down $1.22 at $131.95 a barrel, and Brent crude was down 99 cents a barrel.

Reformulated gasoline is down 4 cents to $3.35 a gallon, while heating oil is up 2 cents at $3.95 a gallon. Near-term natural gas is up 9 cents at $11.73 per million British thermal units.

Crude's early breakout above $135 a barrel was prompted partly by a story onThe Wall Street Journal's Web site that reported the International Energy Agency is preparing to lower its projections for global crude oil supplies.

However, U.S. dollar strength in Thursday's session is stymieing crude oil's skyward momentum. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the value of a basket of currencies, is adding 0.42% to 72.20.

Energy stocks are currently mixed. BP (BP Quote)is up fractionally at $76.30, and Conoco (COP Quote)is fractionally lower at $91.79. Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote) is 0.8% lower at $92.97 a share.

Among exploration companies, Apache (APA Quote)is 1.2% lower at $143, and Chesapeake (CHK Quote)is down 4.5% at $53.23.

The U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO Quote), an exchange-traded fund that tracks WTI futures contracts, is down 1.4% at $106.78.