Oil prices surged more than $2 Wednesday after the US government?s report about a fall in heating oil stocks and colder weather in the US Northeast, the world?s biggest heating fuel market.
US light crude hit $44.25 per barrel , gaining $2.43 or 5.7 per cent, on the NYMEX, in a third straight day of gains, increasing the oil prices on $4.But prices are still $11 below highs of late October.
London?s IPE Brent crude futures soared $2.95 a barrel to $42.20 a barrel as big-money hedge funds piled in to cover short positions.
The US government announced that heating oil stocks had fallen 100,000 barrels to 49.9 million barrels, a deficit of nearly 13 per cent from last year.
Crude stocks also slipped 100,000 barrels to 293.8 million barrels, the first weekly drop since mid-September, the Energy Information Administration said.
