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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Oil prices held steady before climbing further above $58 a barrel Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported that crude stockpiles rose, but that the supply of distillates used for heating fell.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 47 cents to settle at $58.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The EIA's weekly inventory report showed that crude oil inventories rose 1.3 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 16, versus consensus estimates from Briefing.com for a fall of 1 million barrels.

Crude stocks in the United States appear comfortable at around 12 percent above last year's levels.

"The big amount of crude is giving the market a little bit of comfort," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago, but he warned that increasing demand will put upward pressure on prices in the near future. "Overall, I think we're going to see a very bullish year for oil."

Gasoline inventories fell by 300,000 barrels, compared to the forecasted 950,000 barrel rise. But distillate supplies -- used for heating fuel -- fell by 2.8 million barrels. Briefing.com had estimated that distillates would fall by 500,000 barrels.

Forecasts for warmer-than-usual weather for the first quarter next year have eased worries that heating fuel stocks might be tested this winter and weighed on prices in the past week.

Heating oil demand is expected to be near normal this week as a cold spell eases, the National Weather Service said this week.

Prices rose earlier after an attack on a pipeline in Nigeria reduced oil output.

"It is not unusual to lose Nigerian supplies but headlines of armed men attacking facilities explains this little rally," Deborah White, senior energy analyst at SG Commodities in Paris told Reuters.

Nigerian authorities said on Tuesday that unidentified gunmen were suspected of blowing up a major pipeline, cutting output from the world's eighth-largest exporter, and a major supplier to the United States, by 7 percent.

A huge blaze continued to rage on Wednesday.

Royal Dutch Shell, which operates the pipeline, said it had closed two oilfields and shut in 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production in the southern Niger Delta, which pumps almost all of the OPEC member's 2.4 million bpd.

-- from staff and wire reports

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