Oil Surges to $50 on Winter Fuel Worries By Barbara Lewis LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices vaulted back above $50 a barrel on Tuesday as traders took out insurance ahead of weekly U.S. data on Wednesday that is expected to show only a modest increase in winter heating oil inventories. U.S. light crude (CLc1: Quote , Profile , Research ) at 1720 GMT (12:20 p.m. EST) was trading up $1.38, 2.7 percent higher, at $50.02 a barrel. Prices early last week had eased to a two-month low of $45.25. In the Netherlands a fire at the BP Nerefco refinery, Europe's second largest, delayed the return from maintenance of processing units, supporting price gains. London Brent rose $1.37 to $45.75 a barrel. "There is a stay of execution while the weather does not go cold, but I still think that distillates are a problem in the longer term," said Geoff Pyne, analyst for Sempra Energy. Traders who are short of heating oil futures contracts fear a repeat of the past two weeks when U.S. distillates inventories, including heating oil and diesel, failed to build as expected. After 9 weeks of distillate stockdraws, heating oil stocks in the United States are 15 percent below year-ago levels. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, due for release on Wednesday at 1530 GMT for the week to Nov. 19, is expected to show a small 400,000-barrel rise in distillates, a Reuters poll found. The U.S. National Weather Service said on Monday U.S. home heating needs were 22 percent below normal last week and predicted continued mild conditions this week. But several forecasters are predicting a colder-than-normal winter to come in the United States Northeast, where heating oil is the main winter fuel. Temperatures will remain warmer than normal in the region in December and cooler than normal in January and February, WSI said in its revised winter outlook. The Northeast is home to nearly 80 percent of U.S. heating oil consumers.     Continued ... Quelle "Oil Surges to $50 on Winter Fuel Worries" : reuters.com Main page for "Oil Surges to $50 on Winter Fuel Worries"