Gas prices jump nearly 3 cents to record, while oil pauses

Still, the market sometimes ignores the dollar, as it did Wednesday when oil surged to new records although the dollar advanced. Some analysts say that's a sign that many investors are buying on pure momentum -believing prices will head higher regardless of negative data, news or dollar movements.

"There's a lot of momentum driving the oil price up," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

In other Nymex trading, June gasoline futures rose 0.23 cent to $3.1205 a gallon and June heating oil futures rose 4.83 cents to $3.4956 a gallon. June natural gas futures rose 5.8 cents to $11.385 per 1,000 cubic feet. The Energy Department said natural gas inventories rose by 65 billion cubic feet last week, but remain slightly below the 5-year average.

In London, June Brent crude futures rose 19 cents to $122.51 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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AP Business Writers George Jahn in Vienna and Thomas Hogue in Bangkok, Thailand contributed to this report.