LONDON - Oil snapped a nine-day winning streak on Wednesday, staying under $82 a barrel after industry data showed a surprise rise in U.S. distillate inventories last week even though heating oil supplies fell.

U.S. crude for February delivery fell 6 cents to $81.71 a barrel by 0900 GMT, after settling up 26 cents on Tuesday at $81.77, its highest closing level since early October 2008. London Brent crude eased 10 cents to $80.49.

Cold weather in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia boosted demand for heating fuel, pushing crude to its highest settlement in nearly 15 months on Tuesday.

But sentiment was dented after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), released after the market's close on Tuesday, showed U.S. distillate supplies rose 962,000 barrels last week, against expectations for a 1.9 million barrel drop.

On Wednesday markets will look to weekly inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) for further clues on the outlook for demand from the world's top energy user.

U.S. employment data and a gauge of December non-manufacturing activity, also scheduled for release on Wednesday, could confirm that the world's largest economy is on a road to recovery, however patchy.

"The market's biggest worry right now is the U.S. inventory levels, but overall, I think the firm tone can be sustained, and we should see a range of $75-$85 in the near term," said Keiichi Sano, general manager of research at SCM Securities in Tokyo.

"The rally has been driven by cold weather, and this will continue for the next one to two weeks. We're seeing covering of speculative short positions after the cold snap set in."