Energy futures wavered, hesitating on a drive to $100 a barrel Wednesday after the government reported that oil inventories fell unexpectedly last week, but that supplies at a closely watched oil terminal in the Midwest rose for the first time in weeks.

Inventories of distillates including heating oil dropped more than expected, and crude imports fell.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 55 cents to $98.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but alternated frequently between gains and losses.

Earlier they had risen as high as $99.29 a barrel in electronic trading to break the previous intraday record of $98.62 set earlier this month.

Crude prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today.

Other energy futures also rose. December gasoline rose 0.93 cent to $2.4608 a gallon on the Nymex, and December heating oil rose 2.24 cents to $2.7125 a gallon.

December natural gas rose 0.4 cent to $7.481 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex.

In London, December Brent crude rose 28 cents to $95.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices fell 0.1 cent overnight to a national average of $3.089 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices have fallen 2.3 cents since last week, and are almost 14 cents below the record price of $3.227 a gallon set in May.

In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said oil inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected an increase of 700,000 barrels.

However, inventories at the closely watched Nymex delivery terminal in Cushing, Okla., rose last week by 1.2 million barrels, the first increase in weeks.

Refinery activity fell by 0.7 percentage point last week to 87 percent of capacity. Analysts had expected activity to grow by 0.4 percentage point to 88.1 percent of capacity.

Supplies of gasoline rose last week by 200,000 barrels. Analysts had expected a 700,000-barrel increase.

And inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 2.4 million barrels. Analysts had expected distillate supplies to fall by 300,000 barrels.

Crude imports fell last week by an average of 667,000 barrels a day to 9.8 barrels a day. Gasoline imports rose last week by 110,000 barrels a day to an average of 1.1 million barrels a day.

Gasoline demand rose by 35,000 barrels last week, and by 0.3 percent over the last four weeks compared to the same period last year, the EIA said.

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