LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices surged nearly 6 percent Wednesday as the U.S. government reported a fall in heating oil stocks in the midst of the season's first cold snap in the Northeast.

U.S. light crude for January delivery jumped $2.37 to settle at $44.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, marking a third straight day of gains.

U.S. prices are still $12 a barrel below highs hit in late October. Brent crude in London rose $2.97 to settle at $42.22 a barrel.

Prices jumped after the U.S. government reported that stocks of heating oil had fallen 100,000 barrels to 49.9 million barrels, a deficit of nearly 13 percent from last year.

Crude stocks also slipped 100,000 barrels to 293.8 million barrels, the first weekly drop since mid-September, the Energy Information Administration said.

Heating oil stocks are low in all major consuming centers, deepening the threat of a cold snap if the northern winter is harsh.

German consumer stocks of heating oil slipped last month to 59 percent of capacity on Dec. 1, the lowest ever level at this time of year, trading sources said on Tuesday.

Oil prices are more likely to spike if inventories are low, as the market becomes more vulnerable to unexpected disruptions such as strikes, refinery fires or a jump in demand.

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Private forecaster AccuWeather has predicted it will be colder than normal in the eastern U.S. for the rest of December, raising demand for heating fuel.

"Now that we've really had some cold weather, the numbers have changed the [market's] downward momentum and revived fears about winter fuel," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Research, Chicago.

U.S. heating oil prices surged 3.8 percent on Tuesday and added another 6.35 cents to $1.3680 a gallon on Wednesday. European gas oil prices were up $20 a ton at $402 on Wednesday.

Strong demand for diesel fuel has further strained supplies available for heating.

"The thinking was that the recent high energy prices would make demand slow, but the demand for distillate has been strong. Trucks are full of goods and airlines are moving," Flynn said.

Prices have also been bolstered by last week's decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to take one million barrels per day off the market to try to stop a slide that wiped more than 27 percent off prices in seven weeks.

Saudi Arabia, which is shouldering half the cuts, has told customers it will trim contractual supplies in January. Fellow Gulf producer Kuwait said its reduction would be met by lower oil product sales.

Supply problems in big Atlantic basin producers Norway and Nigeria have further tightened supplies -- shutting in a combined 225,000 barrels per day of oil output.

Doubts over supply from Russia's top oil exporter, Yukos, resurfaced after the troubled firm was left out of plans that govern crude deliveries to export terminals.

Bailiffs will auction off Yukos' core Yuganskneftegaz unit on Sunday to help recoup a back-tax bill of about $27 billion. Yukos has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court in a bid to stop the auction.