LONDON, Oct 20: Oil prices shot back up toward record high levels on Wednesday after US heating oil stocks fell for the fifth month in a row, fanning fears of a supply crunch during the northern winter.

Reference light sweet crude for delivery in November surged by as much as $1.61 to $54.90 in early deals in New York, approaching an all-time high $55.33 struck on Monday. The contract later eased back slightly to $54.60, showing a gain of $1.31 from Tuesday's close.

In London Brent North Sea crude oil for December delivery soared by $1.48 to $50.25 in late trading.

Traders reacted with alarm to a report from the US Department of Energy showing a drop in inventories of distillates - mostly diesel and heating oil - of 1.9 million barrels to 119.0 million in the week to October 15.

Within that, heating oil inventories, in high demand in the northern hemisphere winter, slipped 500,000 barrels to 49.5 million.

"This is really going to keep this market quite well propped up," said Richard Slape, an analyst at stockbroker Seymour Pierce.

This time last year commercial stockpiles of distillate fuel in the United States stood at 131.6 million barrels, he noted.-AFP