Oil touches 18-month highs before paring gains on strong dollar

By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices pared gains after earlier hitting 18-month highs on Tuesday, the first trading day of 2017, as the U.S. dollar rallied to its highest since 2002. Crude prices were buoyed earlier in the day by hopes that a deal between OPEC and other big oil exporters to cut production, which kicked in on Sunday, will drain a global supply glut. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $54.18 per barrel.