Oil prices fell a dollar on Wednesday on profit-taking despite a lingering deep freeze in the United States that was boosting demand for heating oil, according to Reuters. U.S. crude was down $1.03 to $57.85 a barrel by 1815 GMT, erasing earlier gains. London Brent crude was down $1.36 cents to $57.06. Traders said the decline in prices was due to profit-taking after a nearly 20 percent climb since mid-January, brought on by a blast of arctic air across the major heating fuel markets of the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. "The momentum ran out and $60 has turned out to be firm resistance," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president for energy risk management at Fimat USA. U.S. government data on Wednesday showed distillate stocks, which include heating oil, fell 3.7 million barrels last week as consumers burnt more fuel for heating. It was the biggest decline in distillate inventories since mid-October 2006, and the second weekly draw in a row. Analysts had anticipated a decline of 3.2 million barrels, according to a Reuters survey. Crude stocks, meanwhile, fell by 400,000 barrels, in contrast to a forecast rise of 1.4 million barrels. Analysts said inventories in the world's biggest energy consumer could continue to fall due to the cold. "This really hard freeze didn't extend across the whole country until this weekend," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at Energy Risk Management at Fimat USA. "I think you'll have to wait for next week's numbers to get a fuller picture of heating demand."
