The price of oil settled Tuesday above $70 US for the first time since early November 2008.

In New York Mercantile Exchange trading, light sweet crude for July delivery finished at $70.01 US, up $1.92 from Monday's close.

Oil's move was seen as being spurred by a softer U.S. dollar and a U.S. government report that forecast higher demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration boosted its 2009 world oil demand forecast by 10,000 barrels per day. That marked the first time since September that the U.S. government agency had raised its demand forecast for 2009.

After peaking above $140 US a barrel in July 2008, oil prices plummeted amid weak economic forecasts to get down to the $30 range earlier this year.

Since then, oil prices have been on a rise as investors expect an economic rebound will boost demand for crude.

Investors will also been looking forward to Wednesday's weekly release of supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.