Oil prices slipped below the $17-a-barrel level...

Oil prices slipped below the $17-a-barrel level as profit taking eroded the strong gains of the previous session. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the February delivery contract for West Texas intermediate, the key U.S. crude, fell 26 cents per 42-gallon barrel to $16.95 after rising 62 cents per barrel the previous day. “What we have is a tug of war between those who think OPEC is cutting production and those who think it is just words,” said Sanford Margoshes, an oil industry analyst for Shearson Lehman Bros. Inc.