Oil prices fell slightly in Asian trade on Wednesday, taking limited support from increasing signs that an end to the longest ever U.S. government shutdown was at hand. 

The dollar eased on Wednesday after private-sector U.S. jobs data stoked worries about the health of the labour market, with investors also bracing for an imminent U.S. government reopening that is expected to unleash a backlog of economic releases.

The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a compromise that would end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, breaking a weeks-long stalemate that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid and snarled air traffic.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the government could have to pay back more than $2 trillion in tariff revenue and investments, if the Supreme Court rules that the duties are illegal.

Oil prices dipped in Asian trade on Tuesday as oversupply concerns outweighed uncertainty over the impact of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil and optimism over progress toward reopening the U.S. government.

The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a compromise that would end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, breaking a weeks-long stalemate that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid and snarled air traffic.