Oil Climbs to Two-Week High SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped to the highest level in two weeks on Thursday, buoyed by a cold weather front in the United States and below-average stocks of winter heating fuels. U.S. light crude rose to an intraday peak at $44.55 a barrel, the highest since Dec. 2 when oil was over $45. By 12:22 a.m. EST, prices had eased to $44.36, up 17 cents. Oil has jumped more than 9 percent this week after top exporter Saudi Arabia cut deliveries for January under OPEC's latest pact to remove 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of excess supply from the market to stem a price slide that wiped $15 off a barrel of crude in seven weeks. Data on Wednesday showing a thin supply cushion of U.S. heating fuels and forecasts of a frigid spell in eastern parts of the country boosted prices further. "The market has been expecting heating oil stocks to build, but they haven't risen and with the cold weather people are starting to feel uncomfortable," said Tony Nunan at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo. "If the weather stays cold, we could see a return to $50." Private forecaster AccuWeather has predicted it will be colder than normal in the eastern U.S. for the rest of December, spelling high demand for heating fuel. A U.S. government report showed that stocks of heating oil fell 100,000 barrels last week to 49.9 million barrels, bringing them to a deficit of nearly 13 percent from last year. Although the drop was relatively small, the data encouraged heavy buying and sent heating oil futures surging 6 percent. Prices have jumped almost 14 percent, or nearly 17 cents, since last Friday to $1.3945 a gallon. The government Energy Information Administration (EIA) also reported a 100,000-barrel decline in U.S. crude stocks to 293.8 million barrels. "However modest, this was the first draw in crude inventories following 11 straight weeks of builds," said Merrill Lynch. Strong consumption of diesel fuel has further strained supplies available for heating. Distillate demand over the last four weeks has averaged nearly 7 percent above the same period last year, the EIA said. A capacity crunch on the Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel line in the United States, triggered exports of jet fuel and diesel from the Gulf Coast to Europe and South America, further thinning U.S. inventories, traders said. Supply problems in big Atlantic basin producers Norway and Nigeria have further tightened supplies -- shutting in a combined 225,000 bpd of crude output. Quelle "Oil Climbs to Two-Week High" : reuters.com Main page for "Oil Climbs to Two-Week High"