Ample supplies prompt oil fall

CRUDE oil fell after failing to break above $60 a barrel in New York for a third straight day and a US government report showed fuel stockpiles to be ample.

The market opened higher each day this week before slipping later in the session.

Oil prices have jumped 14% in New York in the past three weeks as cold weather moved across the US, spurring heating-oil demand. Heating oil, diesel, crude oil and petroleum inventories last week were above the five-year average for the period, the US Energy Department said yesterday.