Oil took a breather below $122 a barrel today ahead of key US weekly inventory data, after hitting new record the previous day on supply concerns and a forecast of oil reaching over $200 a barrel within two years.
US crude for June was down 21 cents at $121.60 a barrel by 7.47am, off yesterday's new intraday all-time high of $122.73. The contract settled up $1.87 at a record $121.84.
London Brent crude was 17 cents lower at $120.14 a barrel, down from the record $120.99 hit yesterday.
A weekly US government report on fuel inventories is expected to show a 1.6 million barrel build in crude supplies, an 800,000 barrel rise in distillate inventories and a 100,000 barrel decline in gasoline stocks, a Reuters poll showed.
Analysts said a higher-than-expected draw in crude or gasoline stocks in the world's largest energy consumer could pull prices higher.
The US Energy Information Administration petroleum inventory data is due today at 3.30pm (Irish time).
Oil's new records extended a rally that has seen prices double over the past year, and led some experts to forecast a potential spike to $200.
Oil could shoot up to $200 in the next two years as part of a "super-spike" driven by poor growth in oil supplies, investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a research note.
The forecast, in addition to continued tensions over Iran and Nigeria, sent prices higher.