Oil Prices Stall in Climb Toward $100 By John Wilen, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices stalled in their climb toward $100 a barrel Wednesday after a government report said oil inventories fell less than expected last week while refinery utilization remained flat.Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 19 cents to $96.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but alternated between gains and losses. Before the report's release, prices rose as high as $98.62, a new record.

December gasoline futures rose 0.35 cents to $2.4385 a gallon on the Nymex, but December heating oil futures fell 0.1 cent to $2.6068 a gallon. December natural gas futures fell 17.3 cents to $7.69 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, December Brent crude rose $1.36 to $94.62 a barrel, supported by severe weather in the North Sea, which has shut down several oil platforms.

At the pump, meanwhile, the national average price of a gallon of gas rose 1.9 cents overnight to $3.043, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices are up nearly 29 cents since mid-October and are 85 cents higher than a year ago.

The EIA reported Wednesday that crude supplies fell by 800,000 barrels during the week ended Nov. 2, half the 1.6 million barrel decline analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected. A larger than expected drop would most certainly have propelled oil past $100 a barrel for the first time.

Supplies at the much-watched Nymex delivery terminal in Cushing, Okla., fell by 1.7 million barrels last week.

Refinery utilization remained flat at 86.2 percent of capacity. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.8 percentage point.

Gasoline inventories fell by 800,000 barrels last week, countering analyst expectations for an increase of 200,000 barrels. Inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 100,000 barrels last week. Analysts had expected a decline of 500,000 barrels.

Imports of crude oil rose by an average of 275,000 barrels a day last week to 9.7 million barrels a day. Gasoline imports rose by 107,000 barrels last week to an average of 1.1 million barrels a day.

Demand for gasoline rose slightly last week, by about 12,000 barrels, the EIA said. Over the last four weeks, demand is up about 0.8 percent over the same period last year.