"It's likely they are going to stick to the output cuts they've promised," Moltke-Leth said. "That will likely support oil in the short term, and we could test $55 this month."

Oil prices have risen over 40 percent since reaching a five-year low of $33.87 a barrel on Dec. 19 despite signs that a severe global economic slowdown is worsening.

U.S. auto sales plunged 36 percent in December, and President-elect Barack Obama said Monday the U.S. economy was "bad and getting worse."

"We know the data coming out in January is going to be really bad," Moltke-Leth said. "But the market has discounted that into expectations."

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures fell 3.38 cents to $1.22 a gallon. Heating oil slid 6.53 cents to $1.64 a gallon while natural gas for February delivery jumped 11.4 cents to $6.19 per 1,000 cubic feet.

That was largely due to the escalation of the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia, which has now shut off deliveries to several neighboring countries, including Austria, the Balkans, and Turkey.

In London, February Brent crude fell $2.12 to $51.74 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.