Crude Oil Near Record Close
on Dollar Decline

Crude oil was near a record settlement price after the Group of Seven Nations failed to end the U.S. Dollar's slide against the Euro.

The G-7 said after a weekend meeting in Washington that it would ''monitor exchange markets closely, and cooperate as appropriate.''

The U.S. currency's decline has spurred interest in energy and metals as an inflation hedge. Gasoline gained on forecasts that a government report will show U.S. supplies fell.

Crude oil for May delivery was at $111.88 a barrel, up 12 cents, at 6:40 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 76 percent from a year ago.

The Nymex trading day ended at 5:15 p.m. New York time, and trading for April 15 began at 6 p.m. local time.

Earlier, futures rose $1.62, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $111.76 a barrel, the highest close since trading began in 1983.

Oil touched $111.99, the second-highest intraday price. Gasoline for May delivery settled at a record $2.8218 a gallon after touching $2.8417, an all-time high for the fuel blended with ethanol, known as RBOB. It began trading in October 2005.

U.S. gasoline demand increases during the summer, when Americans take to the highways for vacations. The peak- consumption period lasts from the Memorial Day weekend in late May to Labor Day in early September.

The G-7 statement didn't explicitly mention the Dollar or suggest plans for intervention, in which central banks arrange purchases or sales of foreign exchange.

Oil has risen 37 percent and the Dollar has dropped 12 percent against the Euro since the Federal Reserve began lowering interest rates on Sept. 18.

The likelihood of the Fed cutting its target rate for overnight lending between banks by a half-point to 1.75 percent on April 30 rose to 52 percent from 36 percent a week ago on the futures contracts of the Chicago Board of Trade show.