U.S. fuel consumption increased in January to the highest level for the month in six years as cold weather bolstered demand, the American Petroleum Institute said. Total deliveries of petroleum products, a measure of demand, rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 19.2 million barrels a day, the industry-funded group said today. It was the highest level for January since 2008. Consumption of distillate fuel, the category that includes diesel and heating oil, gained 0.5 percent to 4.07 million barrels a day last month, the report showed. Heating oil demand surged 12 percent to 553,000 barrels a day in January “Last month’s cold weather created high demand for propane and heating oil,” John Felmy , chief economist at the API in Washington , said in the report. “Domestic crude production remains strong, and both gasoline and distillate production reached record highs for the month of January.” Increased demand […]