New York, Dec 25 (IANS): Oil prices continued to rise on Thursday as the US crude stockpiles decreased.

The US dollar decreased against most major currencies on Thursday. Weaker dollar made the dollar-priced crude less expensive and more attractive for buyers holding other currencies, Xinhua reported.

US crude supplies of last week lost 5.9 million barrels to 484.8 million barrels, 97.6 million barrels more than one year before, according to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA)'s Wednesday weekly report.

US crude production added 3,000 to 9.179 million barrels a day last week, according to EIA's report.

Data from oil service company Baker Hughes released on Wednesday showed that the number of active oil rigs in the US fell by three to 538 of this week.

The data also helped boost the market as the number of US oil rigs is viewed as a proxy for activity in the oil industry.

The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery moved up 60 cents to settle at $38.1 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery increased 53 cents to close at $37.89 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.