NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices climbed to their multi-year highs on Wednesday as concerns over geopolitical tensions persist.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery added 1.75 U.S. dollars, or 2 percent, to settle at 87.35 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery increased 1.76 dollars, or 2 percent, to close at 89.96 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Earlier in the session, the global oil benchmark topped 90 dollars a barrel for the first time in eight years.

Both crude benchmarks settled at their highest prices since October 2014.

The rally followed an upbeat session that saw WTI and Brent jumped 2.75 percent and 2.24 percent, respectively, on Tuesday.

"It is primarily because of the Ukraine conflict that we are still seeing no more pronounced or lasting price correction," Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said Wednesday in a note.

"If oil shipments from Russia were to be disrupted as a result, oil prices of well over 100 U.S. dollars could be expected, at least in the short term," he said.

Traders also sifted through a weekly U.S. fuel inventory report.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday said the nation's crude oil inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels during the week ending Jan. 21. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had expected a fall of 2.1 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies.

According to the EIA, total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.8 million barrels. Enditem

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