World oil prices eased below $55 a barrel in Monday's trading after Norway's government took steps to solve a labor dispute in that nation's oil industry.
Norway is the world's third largest crude exporter, and the price of crude oil for future delivery had hit a record of $55.67 earlier in the day.
Prices spiked when the Norwegian oil industry threatened to expand a lockout to include workers on ships that service off-shore oil facilities.
These labor problems worried investors because they added another item to a list of potential supply disruptions at a time of strong demand for oil from China, the United States, and elsewhere.
Some information for this report provided by AF and Reuters.