NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices settled lower on Thursday after touching the highest prices since December 2014.

The U.S. crude climbed to 66.66 U.S. dollars a barrel before dipping under 66 dollar, while the Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, hit 71.28 dollars a barrel in intraday trading.

Experts said dollar trade was behind the volatile session.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, declined to as low as 88.438, lowest in about three years after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the country welcomed the weakness of the currency on Wednesday.

The dollar index later increased to 89.379 in late trading after U.S. President Donald Trump told CNBC in an exclusive interview that ultimately he wanted to see a strong dollar and that Mnuchin's comments were taken out of context.

The stronger dollar made the dollar-priced commodity less attractive for holders of other currencies.

The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery decreased 0.10 U.S. dollar to settle at 65.51 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery lost 0.11 dollar to close at 70.42 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem