Crude oil fell today as the US dollar gathered strength, with Brent trading at $64.92 a barrel and WTI at $61.12 at 1 am GMT in Asia.

The dollar's jump came after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the last meeting of its Federal Open Markets Committee. The minutes revealed the Fed remains bullish on the U.S. economy and the plan to raise interest rates at least three times this year

After shooting up to new heights thanks to a weaker greenback, today oil prices dipped again as the dollar regained some lost ground and a change in the near-term outlook for crude.

After hitting $71.28 a barrel on Thursday, Brent eased to $70.11, while WTI slid down to $$65.24, from $66.66 yesterday.

As regards the near-term prospects for oil, one commodity analyst, Marex Spectron's Georgi Slavov,

After a short rally sparked by wildfires in Canada and violence in the Niger delta, crude has again started to slide, this time on the back of a stronger US dollar and an unexpected rise in inventories.

The Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that crude oil stockpiles rose by 1.3 million barrels -- data that was in stark contrast with an expected draw of 1.4 million barrels.

On the

Any gains that crude oil made following Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic ties cut with Iran on Sunday were erased by signs that US crude inventories are up again and a stronger dollar, Reuters reports.

Brent crude lost $0.80 on Tuesday, to end trade at $36.42 a barrel, and WTI shed $0.79 to settle at $35.97. These price levels, almost the same as in the last days of 2015, were last seen in 2005. The