NEW THIS MORNING – CRUDE OIL NEARS $120 A BARREL

SINGAPORE (AP) – Oil prices hit an all-time high near $120 a barrel today.

That, after a weekend refinery strike closed a pipeline system that delivers a third of Britain’s North Sea oil to refineries in the U.K. The shutdown comes amid supply outages in Nigeria that have helped to support oil against a strengthening dollar.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record $119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract eased back to $118.96 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore, up 44 cents from Friday’s close.

The oil market will be closely watching this week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. The central bank’s policymakers will meet tomorrow and Wednesday to decide whether to lower interest rates again and give an update on their assessment of the U.S economy and financial system.