U. S. crude climbed up above ninety one dollars a barrel on Wednesday, impacted by a fall in the dollar reaching its two-month lows, while Brent crude steadily weakened after overnight profits.

The discount for U. S. crude futures' benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) against Brent CL-LCO1=R stayed firm at more than six dollars a barrel, but below the eight dollar level hit prior to the expiry of the February Brent contract on Friday.

Profits in U. S. crude will continue to be limited by the imminent restart of Alaska's main oil pipeline after a shutdown. It also faces the problem because of a suggestion by the International Energy Agency that OPEC may have increased output responding to high oil prices.

Brent prices on the other hand remain backed by concerns over disruptions in North Sea crude supplies.

An analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, Matthew Lewis stated that they don’t expect any drastic price movements today as there still remains a bit of holiday mood in crude, with trading volumes still fairly low, and the market is in a consolidation mode.

Brent looked to have hit a level that is giving rise to some psychological profit-taking, while for WTI, at around ninety one dollars one might see some bounce back.

U. S. crude meant for the month of February delivery went up by seventeen cents to hit ninety one dollars and fifty five cents per barrel by 0250 GMT, after settling down sixteen cents at ninety one dollars and thirty eight cents per barrel on Tuesday. The February contract expires on Thursday.

London Brent declined by five cents to ninety seven dollars and seventy five cents per barrel, after going up by thirty seven cents to settle at ninety seven dollars and eighty cents per barrel. Brent's bounce on Tuesday came following its decline of ninety to cents on Monday, a U. S. holiday.