Oil falls below $83 as month-long rally stalls

Oil prices fell below $83 a barrel Thursday as the dollar strengthened and investors worried a 20 percent rally in the last few weeks isn't justified amid sluggish U.S. crude demand.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for February delivery was down 56 cents to $82.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract rose $1.41 to settle at $83.18, a 15-month high.

Investors have brushed off signs of weak U.S. oil demand while bidding up crude prices from $69 a barrel in mid-December. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude supplies rose last week.

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