New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, was up 26 cents to USD 41.94 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery rose 47 cents to USD 46.35.

Jonathan Kornafel, Asia director of Hudson Capital Energy, a trading firm, said a slight rise in prices late last week would not be sustained.

The gains followed wildcat strikes at oil refineries in Britain, as well as data showing a milder-than-expected economic contraction in the United States.

Protests in Britain began last Wednesday at the nation's third-largest oil refinery, Lindsey in Lincolnshire, where workers walked out over the use of Italian and Portuguese contractors on a USD 286 million building project.

Action then spread to energy facilities nationwide.

In the US, government data showed the economy shrank by 3.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008. The figure was not as bad as feared but few took comfort in the data from the recession-hit US economy, the world's biggest energy consumer.

A potentially crippling strike in the US energy sector has been averted, at least for now, as about 26,000 US oil workers continued talks on a new contract.

Kornafel said market conditions would pull prices down again.