BEIJING, Jan 24 Reuters Oil seesawed between modest falls and gains on Wednesday as traders weighed the impact on prices stemming from escalating geopolitical tensions, concerns over tepid demand and a stronger dollar.

The frontmonth March contract for Brent crude rose 4 cents to 79.59 a barrel at 0712 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude also ticked up 4 cents to 74.41 a barrel.

U.S. crude stocks fell by 6.67 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 19, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Gasoline inventories, however, increased by 7.2 million barrels, stoking concerns over fuel demand in the world39;s top oil consumer.

The Energy Information Administration EIA, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, will release the data later on Wednesday.

A stronger U.S. dollar also weighed on oil prices as demand from buyers in other currencies ebbs as they have to pay more for dollardenominated oil.

The dollar index hovered near a sixweek high against major peers on Wednesday as investors cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve would be in no rush to cut interest rates in the face of a resilient U.S. economy.

Without current geopolitical tensions, we believe crude would sell off meaningfully. Over time, we expect supply risk premiums to decouple from conflict risk, analogous to RussiaUkraine, said Vikas Dwivedi, global energy strategist at Macquarie, in a note.

Barring escalation in the Middle East, we…