Crude, Heating Oil Prices Rise on Higher Demand

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rude oil and heating oil prices surged from three-month lows Thursday on signs that U.S. fuel demand is recovering as retail prices fall, Bloomberg reported.

Oil futures rose $2.03 to close at $61.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest closing price since Oct. 25. Nymex prices had closed at $59.75 Wednesday, a three-month low.

Prices fell back 48 cents in early trading Friday to $61.30, Bloomberg reported.

DOE said Wednesday that distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 159,000 barrels, the sixth straight weekly decline, and that fuel demand is recovering.

Gasoline use rose 0.7% to 9 million barrels a day last week, the highest since August, Bloomberg reported.

The amount of petroleum products supplied in the four weeks ended Oct. 28 was 1.8% less than a year earlier, DOE figures showed.

One analyst told Bloomberg there was concern over distillate supplies, because heating oil prices could spike if cold weather moved into the Northeast, where the majority of heating oil is burned.

Diesel prices often parallel heating oil in winter months.