MELBOURNE: Crude oil traded below $72 a barrel in New York after rising as the US mid-Atlantic region braced for a new winter storm in the coming days, signaling increased demand for heating fuel.

Oil gained 1% yesterday, rising for the first time in four days, after the National Weather Service issued storm warnings from Utah to New Jersey and advisories for below-normal temperatures in the East. A weekend storm left almost 40 inches (102 centimeters) of snow in some places and shut government offices in Washington.

"The cold weather is persisting here, and it's not relenting," said John Kilduff, a partner at Round Earth Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on food and energy commodities. Oil prices also advanced amid technical support at the 200-day moving average of $70.72, he said.

Crude oil for March delivery traded at $71.64 a barrel, down 25 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:47 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, the contract rose 70 cents to $71.89.

U.S. stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, probably fell last week as temperatures dropped, a Bloomberg News survey of analysts showed before an Energy Department report tomorrow.

The National Weather Service is forecasting temperatures will be below normal for the next six to 10 days along the East Coast, from Florida to Maine.

Distillate Supplies

Distillate supplies declined 1.5 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 5 from 156.5 million the prior week, according to the median of 10 estimates by analysts. Crude oil inventories probably increased 1.5 million barrels from the previous week's 329 million, according to the survey.

The Energy Department report, scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. Washington time tomorrow, and an inventory report by industry-funded American Petroleum Institute set for 4:30 p.m. today, may face delays because of the weekend storm in Washington that shut federal government offices, spokesmen for the groups said.

Oil also gained yesterday after Nigerian militants said they disabled a pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

An attack at Obunoma, south of the Nigerian oil hub of Port Harcourt, cut supplies from the Nembe Creek, Soku, Belema and Ekulama fields, the Joint Revolutionary Council said in an e- mailed statement Feb. 7. Shell hasn't received any report of the attack, the company's Nigeria spokesman, Precious Okolobo, said.

Brent crude for March settlement rose 52 cents, or 0.8%, to $70.11 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London yesterday.