Oil prices brushed within 60 cents of a new record over $55 a barrel on Tuesday as cold weather boosted fuel demand in U.S. Northeast, the world's largest heating oil market. Growing signals that OPEC will not increase output at its meeting in Iran next week and weakness in the U.S. dollar also bolstered prices. U.S. light crude rose 70 cents to $54.59 a barrel, the second highest settlement on record, after climbing within 60 cents of the contract's all-time high of $55.67. London's Brent crude rose 75 cents to $52.84 after hitting a new record $53.30 a barrel. A wintry blast swept into the U.S. Northeast, sending temperatures into a nose-dive that is likely to keep furnaces blazing for several days. The chill helped push U.S. heating oil futures up 3.88 cents to $1.5238 a gallon. "Cold weather is supporting and funds are back again and the all-commodities CRB index is skyrocketing on the weak dollar," said Tom Bentz, analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures in New York. --More 2349 Local Time 2049 GMT
