Oil prices firmed after touching a four-month low on Wednesday, as a government report showing that U.S. supplies of heating oil rose only slightly last week kept dealers on edge ahead of Friday's OPEC meeting. U.S. light crude settled up 48 cents to $41.94 a barrel after having moved between a four-month low of $40.45 and a high of $42.50 earlier. London's Brent crude gained 42 cents to $38.69 a barrel. A U.S. government inventory report released Wednesday showed increases in commercial stockpiles of crude oil, distillates, and gasoline in the week ended Dec. 3, but only a slight increase in heating oil supplies. "The market had figured in much more bearish inventory data, and this short-covering rally is a typical sell-the-rumor, buy-the-fact move," said John Kilduff, senior vice president for energy risk management at Fimat USA. U.S. heating oil stocks rose 100,000 barrels last week but remained more than 13 percent below year-earlier levels ahead of peak wintertime demand, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. The EIA report also showed crude supplies up 600,000 barrels, distillates inventories up 1.4 million barrels, and gasoline stocks up 2.4 million barrels.
