LONDON, Dec 5: Oil prices came off their highs on Wednesday, giving up some of the sharp early gains made on news that Opec would not hike output after all, dealers said.

They said figures showing a sharp headline drop in US stockpiles had only a muted impact as component parts of the report offered some positives.

In late trade, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was up 66 cents to $88.98 per barrel, coming off a high of $90.39.

Brent North Sea crude for January was up 98 cents to $90.51, falling back from its early high of $91.91.

Prices spiked earlier on Wednesday by $2 as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) left its daily output quota unchanged at 27.25 million barrels.“Oil prices were higher after Opec left production targets unchanged, as we expected,” said Sucden analyst Michael Davies in London.

“The outcome will come as a disappointment to consumer nations, especially the US, as they have been urging Opec to raise supply, claiming that even with the recent price decrease, oil prices are still too high.”

In addition, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said on Wednesday that US inventories of crude oil had plunged by 8.0 million barrels in the week ending November 30, sharply outpacing forecasts for a drop of 1.25 million barrels.

“The most supportive element of the (DoE) report was the ... drop in total crude stocks,” said Citigroup analyst Tim Evans.

However, technical factors helped offset this headline lead.

“The impact of this surprise might be moderated by the further 671,000-barrel rise in stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for NYMEX futures,” Evans noted.

At the same time, heating fuel stockpiles fell as demand rose for the peak of the northern hemisphere winter.—AFP