Crude Oil Dips After Record Climb to $135
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 on
The Wall Street Journal's
Web site that reported the International Energy Agency is preparing to lower its projections for global crude oil supplies.
Oil's Surge Just Getting Started |
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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) - Get Report
is up fractionally at $76.30, and
Conoco
(COP) - Get Report
is fractionally lower at $91.79.
Exxon Mobil
(XOM) - Get Report
is 0.8% lower at $92.97 a share.
Among exploration companies,
Apache
(APA) - Get Report
is 1.2% lower at $143, and
Chesapeake
(CHK) - Get Report
is down 4.5% at $53.23.
The
U.S. Oil Fund ETF
(USO) - Get Report
, an exchange-traded fund that tracks WTI futures contracts, is down 1.4% at $106.78.