Oil starts year above $81 a barrel

NEW YORK

“It looks like Antarctica out there,” analyst Stephen Schork said. “It’s snowing everywhere. This winter is like a gift from the bullish gods.”

Benchmark crude for February delivery climbed $1.92 to $81.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose $2.00 to $79.93 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Oil refiners have shuttered some of their operations and are pulling back elsewhere as the rising cost of crude cuts into profits. In the last week of December, U.S.-based refining slowed to the lowest level ever for that time of year, according to government records dating back to 1990.

AP