Oil gave up early gains on Tuesday, steadying near $59 a barrel, as a cold snap in top consumer the United States failed to ignite the heating oil market and a $1 rally ran out of steam.
The onset of cold weather in the U.S. Northeast, the world's biggest heating oil market, and a shift in investment flows has lifted oil from a 20-month low of $49.90 on Jan. 18 and brought it into the danger zone for consumer nations' economies.
U.S. crude oil was up 16 cents at $58.90 a barrel by 1641 GMT, having earlier touched a one-month high of $59.99. London Brent crude was up 22 cents to $58.32.
"The market is looking for leadership in winter fuels and when heating oil didn't scream, but instead slipped from its early high and natural gas dropped, the run toward $60 could not be sustained," said Andrew Lebow, a broker at Man Financial.
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