The huge fall in prices has been a positive thing for the UK economy, according to the deputy governor of the Bank of England.
Dr Ben Broadbent told the BBC the 75% drop in oil prices over the past 18 months has been a "net good" for the economy by helping to push up real-term wages.
"A lot of that has to do in the drop in oil prices. That's boosted consumption and UK growth overall," he said.
"It was only in the latter part of 2012, once confidence about the Eurozone had begun to come back, that the UK economy really got going. So, I would date the recovery not from 2008 or 2009, but actually from early 2013.
"And since then we've enjoyed three years of pretty solid growth certainly in the labour market."
Oil prices fell 1.6% to $34.46 on Thursday, having experienced a recent surge earlier in the week.
No urgency on interest rates
Dr Broadbent was one of the nine members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee who voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.5% for another month.
He said there was "certainly no great urgency to raise rates at the moment... We will respond to events as and when they happen".
