Oil prices fell in highly volatile trading on Wednesday after coming within striking distance of the $100 a barrel level, prior to the release of the latest US weekly inventories data.

Nymex January West Texas Intermediate lost 80 cents to $97.23 a barrel after hitting a record of $99.29 in earlier Asian trading. Forecasts for cold weather in the US north-east and expectations that Chinese crude imports will need to increase to ease fuel shortages had contributed to the price spike.