Oil prices steadied today after nearing a record $106 a barrel as investors reacted to a surprise drop in American crude supplies and the dollar struck new lows against the euro.

Also supporting prices was an OPEC decision not to boost output and rising tensions on Venezuela’s border.

By the afternoon in Europe, light, sweet crude for April delivery was unchanged from the previous day’s close at $104.52 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices briefly spiked to a record of $105.97 earlier in the day.

Yesterday, the April contract had jumped $5 to settle at a record $104.52 a barrel and later rose to $104.95 in post-settlement electronic trading.

Earlier this week, oil prices broke the previous inflation-adjusted price record of $103.76, set in 1980 during the Iran hostage crisis.

In London, Brent crude fell 14 cents to $101.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

“The primary factor causing the surge in oil prices is the surprising drawdown in crude inventories, which caused traders to really react quite dramatically,” an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, Victor Shum, said.

Most analysts had expected the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration to report oil stocks rose last week for the eighth straight time. Instead, the stocks fell 3.1 million barrels.

In Vienna, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said yesterday it would hold production levels steady, at least for now. OPEC ministers cited falling demand in announcing their decision to hold production steady.

The EIA report and OPEC announcement fed a new frenzy of investing in oil futures, which have risen to new inflation-adjusted records this week as the falling dollar drew investors to the market.