NEW YORK -- Oil futures settled higher in New York Wednesday despite weekly inventory reports showing a build in the United States' crude supply.
The December contract jumped more than $1 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after reports of a decline in heating oil supplies that seemed to trump the increase in the crude supply.
December NYMEX crude gained a strong $1.49 to settle at $48.86 per barrel. Heating oil climbed 6.09 cents to $1.403 per gallon, while gasoline settled 5.13 cents higher at $1.285 per gallon.
The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday the U.S. crude supply grew 1.8 million barrels last week to 291.5 million barrels, about average for this time of year.
Supplies of heating oil and other distillate fuels slipped for the eighth consecutive week.
Gasoline stocks remained above average despite a 400,000 barrel decline, while natural gas storage levels grew 34 billion cubic feet to 3.32 trillion cubic feet.
