Oil strikes record near $94

By Matthew Robinson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil jumped to a record high near $94 a barrel on Monday as stormy weather disrupted supplies from giant exporter Mexico and the dollar wallowed near record lows.

Mexican state oil company Pemex has shut a fifth of the nation's crude production and halted the bulk of exports as storms kept ships bottled at ports across the country, a top U.S. supplier.

U.S. crude settled up $1.67 at $93.53 a barrel after striking a record $93.80 earlier. London Brent settled $1.63 higher at $90.32 a barrel.

Oil prices have soared by more than a third since mid-August as a stand-off between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, dollar weakness, easing interest rates and winter supply fears have lured a fresh wave of investment capital.

"Every new bullish factor pushes U.S. crude irrationally closer to $100 barrel," said SGCIB, adding: "Prices will fall if the FOMC does nothing."

The U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meets on October 30-31, and Wall Street is betting on another rate cut as the U.S. housing downturn deepens.

Expectations of a cut have helped push the dollar to record lows against a basket of currencies and boosted the price of dollar-denominated commodities.

FUNDS RUSH IN