West Texas Intermediate rose to its highest level in four weeks as cold weather in the U.S. boosted demand for heating fuel in the world’s largest oil consumer. Futures advanced as much as 0.6 percent in New York. Demand for distillates, which includes heating oil, surged to the highest level in almost six years amid colder weather in the U.S., data from the Energy Information Administration showed yesterday. WTI slipped yesterday as the Federal Reserve said it would continue stimulus cuts. Brent crude was little changed as a Chinese manufacturing gauge signaled the first contraction in six months in January. “Now we have extreme cold in the U.S., it does increase demand for refined products and that will lower crude stockpiles,” Hans van Cleef, an energy economist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam, said by telephone. “We see Fed tapering going on. At some point the strong recovery […]