A barrel of European benchmark crude, Brent, costs USD 89.39 Thursday morning against USD 90.12 Wednesday afternoon. At the same time, a barrel of WTI crude trades at USD 86.78 against USD 87.50 Wednesday afternoon, writes Reuters.

"It could be a strong US dollar at play after the Federal Open Markets Committee signaled rates will rise," says analyst at Commonwealth Bank Vivek Dhar.

The crude oil prices went up Wednesday, with the price of Brent exceeding USD 90 for the first time in seven years due to tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the largest oil producer in the world, which has led to concerns about energy supply disruptions to Europe.

Dhar also highlights these worries and further estimates that even though the Omicron variant has a lesser effect on oil demand than initially feared, the efforts of the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries to boost supply aren't materializing in a way that supports the oil prices.

OPEC undershot its planned output increase target in December, highlighting capacity constraints that limit the supply at a time when global demand is on a recovery path following the pandemic.

Oil recovers on steep Monday decline

Oil prices up on fear of tensions in Eastern Europe