Oil prices stall above $62, eyes on inventory data

SYDNEY, Dec 6 (Reuters) Oil prices stalled around .50 on Wednesday as caution set in ahead of the release of U.S.

inventory data, which is seen as likely to show a fall in heating fuel stocks.

U.S. crude was trading 18 cents higher at .61 at 0132 GMT. London's Brent crude rose 13 cents to .45.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect U.S. government data on Wednesday to show a 500,000-barrel decline in distillate stocks, which include heating fuel, following higher demand after a major snow storm hit the northeast U.S. over the weekend.

Crude inventories were also expected to rise by a slim volume as imports rebounded, keeping them at or near their highest level for the time of year since 1991.

The data will be released at 1530 GMT.

''Inventories remain the key and from comfortable levels, there's not much indication of unusual demand,'' said Tobin Gorey, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank.

''The cold snap in the U.S. will come to an end over the weekend and then warmer than usual temperatures will prevail for a couple of weeks. Supply is less likely to get critically tight,'' Gorey said.

The U.S. National Weather Service forecast higher than usual temperatures by the weekend in the U.S. Northeast, the top heating oil market. The mild weather could last for two weeks.

For now, oil prices have yet to convincingly leave behind the trading rut of - a barrel established since mid-September, despite signs that OPEC is inclined to cut output again.

Most OPEC ministers have said they still see the need for a further output cut when they meet in Abuja on Dec. 14 and that, regardless of price, the market is oversupplied.

The group, which controls more than a third of world oil exports, already agreed at an emergency meeting in October to trim 1.2 million barrels per day of output from Nov. 1 to stem oil's steep slide.

But energy watchdog the International Energy Agency (IEA) opposed the possible cut, stating that the cartel should wait until winter demand data becomes available at the end of January.

REUTERS SRS VP0755