Cold weather across the Northeast and Midwest on Thursday raised concerns about increased demand for home-heating fuels this winter, pushing oil and natural gas prices higher.
Light sweet crude for January delivery climbed $1.45 to settle at $60.66 a barrel on Nymex. In London, January Brent crude gained 55 cents to $57.53 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Heating oil futures jumped by 4.66 cents to settle at $1.7832 per gallon, while gasoline futures rose 5.9 cents to settle at $1.6266 a gallon. January natural gas futures surged as high as $15.10 per 1,000 cubic feet, before settling at $14.994, an increase of 9 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
