Oil held steady above $65 a barrel today after rising late last week after rocket attacks in Jordan and reduced oil supply from Ecuador.
US crude eased 20 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $65.15 a barrel in Asian trade by 6am Irish time, around 3 per cent lower than a record high of $67.10 hit earlier this month.
London Brent crude slipped 1 cent to $64.35 a barrel. Oil prices jumped over $2 a barrel on Friday, partly recovering from a mid-week slump, after two missiles fired at US ships in Jordan's Aqaba port fuelled market concern over the security of supplies from its oil-rich neighbours.
Despite the speculative gains, some traders said worries that higher prices are eating into economic growth and the looming end of the peak-demand summer petrol driving season in the United States could weigh on prices in coming weeks.
A series of production outages - and the threat of more to come - has overshadowed relatively comfortable crude stock levels in the United States, the world's biggest consumer.
Ecuador, which was forced to slash exports last week after protests in the Amazon shut down most of the country's output, was gradually restoring some production as protest leaders were freed from jail and prepared to negotiate with the government.