Crude oil futures surge above 66 dollars a barrel Wednesday as US claimed that its refinery capacity in Mexico Gulf could remain off line.

Light sweet crude for delivery in November, New York's main contract,jumped 1.28 dollars to 66.35 dollars per barrel in closing trading.

While gasoline futures climbed the most, prices remained more than 25 cents off the August record high. But heating-oil futures ended within 6 cents of the all-time peak of Sept. 1.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery climbed 96 cents to close at 63.93 dollars per barrel.

The federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) warned that as much as 15 percent of US refinery capacity could remain off line for ``at least another couple of weeks.''

US inventory data came in better than expected but traders remained concerned about refineries offline following Hurricane Rita on Saturday, less than a month after Katrina.

Many traders expect next week's data to paint a more dire picture, since Wednesday's data didn't reflect the aftermath of last weekend's Hurricane Rita.

Source: Xinhua