Oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday, taking advantage of the weakness of the dollar and after the announcement of a larger-than-expected weekly decline in U.S. crude reserves.

The barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in February, which is the last day of trading, gained 0.48% or 25 cents to $51.34.

The US barrel of WTI for the month of February rose 0.83% or 40 cents to $ 48.40.

"Oil prices have been helped by the weakness of the dollar," said Stephen Innes, an analyst at Axi.

The dollar index, which compares the greenback to other major currencies, was trading wednesday at its lowest level in two and a half years.

For the black gold market, this means that the barrel, the price of which is set in dollars, is cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

In addition, U.S. reserves fell sharply in the week ended Dec. 25, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) on U.S. reserves.

Commercial crude inventories plunged by 6.07 million barrels, where analysts had expected a decline of 3.1 million barrels, according to a consensus compiled by Bloomberg.

Finally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, are due to meet on Monday 4 January for their monthly meeting.

At the beginning of December, member countries had decided to increase their production, which they voluntarily limit, by only 500,000 barrels per day, to avoid flooding the market with the two million barrels daily initially planned.