Oil prices pulled back today after yesterday's 4 per cent surge but were underpinned by
deepening worries that colder temperatures in the United States would draw down oil and gas supplies to feed heating demand.
Plans by the oil cartel OPEC to keep oil prices high to counter a weakening dollar - which fell to multi-year lows against key currencies today - added to expectations that losses would be limited.
New York crude futures were down 26 cents at $31.84 per barrel, denting a $1.37 rally yesterday, which followed a worse-than-expected snowstorm in the heavily populated northeastern United States, the world's largest consumer of heating oil.
London's Brent crude fell 28 cents to $29.70 a barrel after a $1.24 jump yesterday. A storm at the weekend in the US northeast dumped more snow and pushed temperatures much lower than traders and weather forecasters had expected and US weather forecasters are now predicting a colder December than previous forecasts.
The US government's Energy Information Administration yesterday raised its US oil demand forecast for the fourth quarter to 20.32 million barrels per day from its previous figure of 20.16 million bpd.