Crude oil prices reached record highs on the futures market yesterday amid a backdrop of Mideast tensions and dollar concerns, but ended the day lower.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline climbed to a record $4.086, according to a daily survey by motorist group AAA. That was up 0.7 cents from $4.079 the previous day, and eclipsed the previous mark of $4.08 set June 16.

Gas prices have risen 2.9 per cent in the last month and are almost 38 per cent higher than where they were a year ago.

Meanwhile, light, sweet crude for August delivery settled down 21 cents at US$140 a barrel after earlier setting a trading record of US$143.67 a barrel, 50 per cent above the price at the end of 2007.

Despite the pullback, oil prices remain consistently over US$140 a barrel.

“You’ve got the same number of people betting that this market will go down this summer as are betting that it will go up,” said independent NYMEX trader Anthony Grisanti in an interview.

However, Grisanti warned that the future rate of consumption from developing nations such as China, India and the former Soviet Union will outstrip supply.