Crude-oil futures fell early Monday, as traders locked in some of the gains that pushed the contract to a record above $75 a barrel in the previous session. Crude for June delivery was last down 70 cents to $74.47 a barrel. On Friday, the contract struck an intraday record at $75.35 a barrel and closed above $75 for the first time. "Geopolitical event risk, strong investment fund demand and low U.S. gasoline stocks should keep crude prices generally underpinned, though there could be scope for a further correction over the nearer term given the high speculative exposure to long positions currently," said economists at research firm Action Economics. Over the weekend, the Iranian foreign ministry said its decision to enrich uranium is "irreversible," once again rejecting demands that it stop its research. The comments come days before a United Nations deadline for the Tehran government to cease enrichment. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, is to present a report on Iran's nuclear research to the Security Council this week. Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is planning more moves to curb the activities of foreign oil companies operating in the Latin American country, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Venezuela's Congress is considering steep increases in taxes and royalties on foreign operations in the Orinoco River basin, and Chavez wants to take majority control of the four major projects there, the newspaper said, citing a top executive at state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela. The moves would affect companies like Exxon Mobil , ConocoPhillips and France's Total , which have spent billions of dollars in the region converting about 600,000 barrels a day into light, sweet crude. In other news, Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera aired an audio tape purporting to be from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, calling for Islamic holy war in Sudan and other Muslim states. Elsewhere in the oil complex, gasoline futures were trading down 1.6 cents at $2.2225 a gallon, heating oil was down 1.5 cents at $20.615 a gallon and natural gas was down 4 cents at $7.94 per million British thermal units