LONDON, Nov 17: Crude oil prices slipped below $46 a barrel on Wednesday on increasing hopes of adequate heating fuel supply during the northern hemisphere winter, dealers said.

The main US contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, was quoted at 45.84 dollars a barrel in electronic trading at about 1150 GMT, down 27 cents from its close of 46.11 dollars in New York on Tuesday.

Current prices are 41 per cent higher than the level of $32 a barrel at the start of the year, but around 17 per cent lower than the historic peaks of more than $55 a barrel reached in October.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January lost 37 cents to $41.92 a barrel. "I think it's just the market perception that there are enough stocks of both crude oil and products in the world market," said Gerard Rigby, deputy head of trading at China Aviation Oil in Singapore, explaining the most recent falls.

"For the moment, a lot of traders are selling to exit their positions at the end of the year." Markets were expecting a fresh rise in US inventories of crude oil, and even those of heating oil, in a weekly report from the US Department of Energy due to be published later on Wednesday.

Last week's report showed that crude oil inventories had increased by 1.8 million barrels to 291.5 million in the week to November 5, helping to offset an eighth weekly drop in stockpiles of heating oil. -AFP