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U.S. crude oil prices surged near $110 a barrel on Wednesday after the dollar fell to a record low against the euro.

The dollar fell to $1.5526 per euro, the lowest since the European currency was launched in 1999. Strong investments into commodities including oil, gold and copper grew as traders sought a way to compensate for inflation and steep declines for the dollar.

Earlier today crude prices fell as worries about demand rose after the Energy Department reported that U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected to 6.19 million barrels to 311.6 million barrels last week. Analysts forecasted inventories would rise ranging from 1.68 million to 1.7 million barrels.

Crude oil futures rose $1.23 or 1.13 percent to $109.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:39 p.m. In London crude futures rose 0.88 cents or 0.83 percent to $106.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

The Energy Department today reported that gasoline stockpiles also rose 1.69 million barrels to 236 million last week. Including last week, inventories have risen for 18 consecutive weeks. Distillates inventories in the U.S. dropped 1.2 million barrels, less than the 1.9 million barrel forecast.

According to the report, total implied fuel demand averaged 20.5 million barrels a day in the past four weeks, meaning a decrease of 2.7 percent from a year earlier.