Crude Oil Steady Despite Saudi Pledge

Oil futures were staying at elevated levels early Monday, as Saudi Arabia's weekend promise to produce additional petroleum failed to convince traders that prices would be affected enough by the increase to fall back.

Recently, crude for August delivery, the new near-month contract, was up 15 cents at $135.51 a barrel. Brent crude was adding 25 cents to $135.11. Reformulated gasoline was fractionally higher at $3.44 a gallon, and natural gas was stronger by 10 cents at $13.09 per million British thermal units.

This past weekend, Saudi officials said at an extraordinary summit that they would lift the largest OPEC nation's output by 200,000 barrels a day, if necessary, through the end of the year. Currently, Saudi Arabia produces about 9.5 million barrels each day for the world market.

Still, oil prices were off their highs of the morning, pulling back as the dollar strengthened against its major counterparts.

They Just Don't Get Oil!

Recently, the U.S. Oil (USO Quote - Cramer on USO - Stock Picks) ETF, which tracks crude prices, was down 11 cents to $109.03 a share.

Stocks such as Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote - Cramer on XOM - Stock Picks), ConocoPhillips (COP Quote - Cramer on COP - Stock Picks) and Chevron (CVX Quote - Cramer on CVX - Stock Picks) weren't trading in the premarket.