Crude Ticks Up After Data

The increase in crude futures pushed up prices for natural gas and heating oil despite warm weather forecasts and high supplies. The National Weather Service expects mild temperatures to persist in much of the nation through the beginning of next month.

Natural gas inched up 10 cents to $6.24 per million British thermal units, and heating oil rose 1 cent to finish trading at $1.62 a gallon.

Analysts are expecting to see a drop of 65 billion cubic feet in last week's data, according to a Bloomberg poll. The Energy Department will release the natural gas supply figures a day late on Friday because of the government shut down on Monday for Christmas.

ConocoPhillips(COP Quote), Hess(HES Quote) and Marathon Oil(MRO Quote) led the advances among drilling and refining companies.

Oil service firms Tidewater(TDW Quote) and Baker Hughes(BHI Quote) were also higher.