Rising oil prices often depress the value of the U.S. dollar, but political instability in Libya and other countries is likely to buoy the U.S. currency, said Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Ongoing unrest in Africa and the Middle East will serve to strengthen the dollar because investors tend to flock to the U.S. currency in times of geopolitical instability, Yergin during an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Big Interview set to air Friday.

"We've seen this kind of strange dance that goes on between [the] weakening dollar and strengthening oil prices, and vice versa," Yergin said. "But we're in a different kind of situation now. When you have geopolitical risk, people like holding the dollar."

The political unrest in Libya, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, is also stirring concerns over global oil supplies and that should boost the value of currencies in other oil-producing countries, Yergin said.

The Russian ruble, for instance, "is quite strong now because of that," he said.
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