US energy inventories fell in the past week as a winter cold snap pushed up demand for fuels, government data showed today.
The Department of Energy said inventories of crude oil slumped 4.3 million barrels to 335.4 million in the week ended December 8.
That was much more than the decline of 1.3 million barrels predicted by analysts. Levels of distillate products, such as heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 500,000 barrels to 131.9 million over the week, double the fall expected by analysts.
Petrol reserves were down 100,000 barrels to 199.9 million, the DoE report showed, against forecasts for a bigger decrease of one million barrels.
After the report, US light, sweet crude rose 43 cents to $61.45 a barrel and London Brent crude rose 3 cents to $61.55.
