Oil soared to a record over $ 58 a barrel on Monday, adding pressure on producer cartel OPEC to hike supplies, before profit-taking by speculators eased prices int negative territory. US crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange peaked at $ 58.28 a barrel ? the highest front-month oil futures price on record ? before ending the day down 26 cents to $57.01 a barrel. London?s Brent crude slipped 28 cents to $ 56.23 a barrel.

OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on Monday cartel oil ministers had begun telephone consultations on possibly increasing production by a further 500,000 barrels per day to cool prices.

?If there is a decision it should be in the next two weeks. For that, if there will be any new production, it should be in May,? said Sheikh Ahmad, also Kuwait?s Energy minister. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised output limits by 500,000 bpd to 27.5 million bpd in mid-March and left room for a second rise before a June meeting if prices failed to ease below $ 55.

In inflation-adjusted terms, oil prices remain well-below the roughly $ 90-a-barrel peak hit in the 1980s, according to calculations by the International Energy Agency. An OPEC delegate said on Monday the group?s 10 members under formal output limits, excluding Iraq, would pump 28.1 million bpd in April, which is about 400,000 bpd above estimated March production and 600,000 bpd higher than the current ceiling.

US crude oil supplies are running near a three-year high and analysts are expecting another increase to be shown in the next batch of government inventory data this week. US gasoline supplies are also running at a surplus, but strong demand and recent refinery problems have raised concerns about the adequacy of inventories ahead of the peak summer demand season.