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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Oil prices ended just below $61 a barrel Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported that crude stockpiles rose, but the supply of distillates used for heating fell.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell 52 cents to settle at $60.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, zigzagging above and below Tuesday's $61.37 settlement after the report.

The EIA's weekly inventory data reported that crude oil inventories rose 900,000 barrels in the week ended Dec. 9, versus consensus estimates from Briefing.com for a fall of 1.5 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels, more than the forecasted 1 million barrel rise. But distillate supplies -- used for heating fuel -- fell by 100,000 barrels. Briefing.com had estimated that distillates would rise by 800,000 barrels.

"This report overall was not a big surprise," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago, commenting on the modest market response to the news, but he cautioned that the drop in distillates would drive the market up.

Cold weather last week boosted heating demand to about 30 percent above normal, the National Weather Service said, and colder temperatures this week could keep demand unusually high.

January heating oil rose 0.35 cent to $1.8400 per gallon Wednesday on the NYMEX.

The Northeast will see temperatures well below normal over the next two days, private forecaster Meteorlogix said.

Oil touched $61.90 on Tuesday, its highest since Nov. 4, and the cold weather helped natural gas prices soar to a record high.

"The cold is wreaking havoc with natural gas," Jason Schenker, an analyst at Wachovia in Charlotte, N.C. told Reuters.

Kerosene stockpiles in Japan, where the fuel is used in home heating, fell last week after a cold snap boosted demand, putting them 7 percent below last year's hefty levels, data showed.

-- from staff and wire reports

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