Oil prices held steady today as traders waited to see whether the first cold snap of the US winter has eaten into low heating fuel supplies.
US light crude futures rose nine cents to $45.85 a barrel.
Prices are up 40 per cent this year, spurred on by a surge in demand and limited spare refining and production capacity.
But they are $10 below their peak two months ago after a mild start to the winter saw lower-than-normal seasonal demand in the US Northeast. The biggest heating oil market in the world, the Northeast has just seen its first blast of cold, probably causing inventories of distillates to fall by 1.0 million barrels, according to a poll of analysts.