Eurozone inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in nearly four years, according to preliminary data published Tuesday by the region's official statistics office, amid a surge in global oil and energy prices.

Harmonized consumer prices in the single currency area rose at an annual 1.8% clip in January, Eurostat said, up from a 1.1% rate in December and the fastest pace since February 2013. So-called core inflation, which strips out volatile prices for food, energy, alcohol and tobacco products, was estimated at an annual 0.9%, unchanged from the final December reading.

The modestly disappointing core reading held down gains for the euro which traded 0.1% higher against the U.S. dollar at 107.07 immediately following the Eurostat release.

Energy prices led the annual gains, Eurostat tables indicate, with prices surging and estimated 8.1%, nearly three times the pace recorded in December. Unprocessed food prices rose 3.3% from a year ago, compared to a 2.1% gain last month while service prices, one of the most important components from which to gauge underlying consumer price momentum, slowed to an annual 1.2% clip from the 1.3% recorded in December.

Traders had been anticipating a faster Eurozone inflation rate after data Monday that showed consumer prices in Germany, the region's biggest economy, rising at the fastest pace in three and a half years amid a surge in energy prices.

Consumer prices in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, rose at an annual 1.9% pace this month, Destatis said, up from 1.7% in December and the fastest rate since July 2013. The rate also falls largely in-line with the European Central Bank's definition of price stability of "just below 2%".

The figures are likely to fuel even more debate over the ECB's loose monetary policy and will likely elicit further calls from Germany's Bundesbank to withdraw some of the central bank's non-standard measures -- such as the -0.4% rate it applies to its deposit facility -- and unwind its €1.5 trillion quantitative easing program.

However, ECB President Mario Draghi told reporters at his last press conference in Frankfurt on Jan. 19 that while he and his colleagues were prepared to do more, if needed, to bring inflation closer to its 'just below 2%' target, underlying consumer price pressures remained weak.

"Headline inflation has increased lately largely owing to base effects in energy prices. But underlying inflation pressures remain subdued," Draghi said. "The Governing Council will continue to look through changes in (harmonised Eurozone) inflation if judged to be transient and to have no implication for the medium-term outlook of price stability.

"A very substantial degree of monetary accommodation is needed for euro area inflation pressures to build up and support headline inflation in the medium term," Draghi continued. "If warranted to achieve its objective the Governing Council will act by using all the instruments available within its mandate."