Oil Hits New Highs as Winter Stocks Fall By Andrew Mitchell LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices roared to fresh record highs on Thursday as the U.S. government reported another fall in heating fuel stocks ahead of winter. U.S. light, sweet crude (CLc1: Quote , Profile , Research ) rose 96 cents to $54.60 a barrel, up more than 65 percent so far this year and a rapid rebound from a brief bout of profit-taking by big-money funds earlier this week. London Brent crude for December (LCOc1: Quote , Profile , Research ) rose 55 cents to $50.60 a barrel. World prices have surged on fears that the United States is running out of time to build winter fuel supplies, due in part to the impact of Hurricane Ivan, which damaged oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico last month. U.S. distillate stocks, including heating oil, fell by 2.5 million barrels to 120.9 million last week, to drop more than 8 percent below last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. U.S. oil production in the Gulf is still running at about 72 percent of its normal rate of 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) after pipeline and platform damage by Hurricane Ivan, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said on Wednesday. "There's still a noticeable impact from Ivan's shut-ins and refinery runs are still in the doldrums, that's the reason for the larger than expected draw in the distillates," said Marshall Steeves, market analyst at brokers Refco. "I think we're gearing up for another run-up," said Steeves. Tight stocks in Asia and Europe have magnified the price rise. Japanese kerosene supplies rose four percent in the past week, but remain about 17 percent below year-ago levels, according to industry data released on Thursday. German consumer stocks of heating oil rose by three percent last month to 60 percent of capacity on October 1, but remained well below levels last year ahead of peak winter demand, trading sources said on Thursday. OPEC SEES HIGHER PRICES     Continued ... Quelle "Oil Hits New Highs as Winter Stocks Fall" : reuters.com Main page for "Oil Hits New Highs as Winter Stocks Fall"