LONDON, Nov 22: World oil prices paused on Thursday, one day after striking a record peak near $100 per barrel in New York on concerns over weak crude supplies and the falling dollar.

Investors took a cautious stance to protect their positions since US financial markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, eased six cents to $97.23 per barrel. The contract had hit an historic $99.29 on Wednesday.

Elsewhere on Thursday, London’s Brent North Sea crude for January delivery added 15 cents to $94.99 per barrel, after striking an all-time peak of $96.53 on Wednesday.

“The markets are likely to be fairly quiet because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States,” said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov in London.

Prices had failed to top $100 on Wednesday, despite official data which showed that US energy stockpiles fell more heavily than expected last week.

David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said he had expected prices to rise after the disappointing US energy report.

“I thought the inventory data would be supportive of the market,” Moore said. “It may have been investors were cautious ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.”

The US Department of Energy (DoE) announced Wednesday that reserves of US crude oil had sunk by 1.1 million barrels in the week ending November 16.

Analysts’ consensus forecast had been for a gain of 750,000 barrels.

The DoE added that US reserves of distillates, including crucial heating fuel and diesel, dived by 2.4 million barrels last week. That was far heavier than market expectations for a drop of 450,000 barrels.

Heating fuel demand is expected to pick up as the Northern hemisphere winter kicks in next month. The US northeast region is the world’s biggest user of heating oil.—AFP