WORLD oil prices rallied yesterday as winter chills swept across Europe and fresh data from the United States showed cold weather demand had eaten again into low inventory levels, traders said.

Benchmark Brent crude oil for February delivery traded on London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) at $23.61 a barrel, 22 cents up from Tuesday's close.

Fresh data released by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Thursday showed a hefty 5-6 million barret weekly fall in US crude oil stocks levels, to around 290 million barrels.