Supplies fell 9.1 million barrels to 269.5 million in the week ended Sept. 17, the report showed. Analysts expected a drop of 7 million barrels, according to the median of forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. The U.S. Minerals Management Service raised the tally of damage to oil production platforms and pipelines in the Gulf yesterday, a week after Ivan moved into the region.

``Refiners are worried that supplies are running short so they are buying everything in sight,'' said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York, which markets wholesale gasoline and heating oil. ``We have moved below 275 million barrels and it looks like we will have another decline next week.''

Crude oil for November delivery was up $1.34, or 2.9 percent, at $48.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:08 p.m. Prices touched $48.30, the highest since reaching a record $49.40 on Aug. 20. Oil futures were up 78 percent from a year earlier.

In London, the November Brent crude-oil futures contract was up $1.24, or 2.9 percent, at $44.63 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Brent reached a record $45.15 a barrel on Aug. 20.

Seven platforms that were anchored to the seafloor in the Gulf were destroyed in the storm, the Washington-based service said in a report. The agency on Monday said four platforms were presumed sunk. Leaks were reported at 13 pipelines, up from 3 on Monday, and four platforms had extensive damage, up from one in the Monday report.

Eighth Straight Decline

It was the first time since 1988 that inventories dropped for eight straight weeks. The decline left supplies at the lowest since the week ended Feb. 6. Stockpiles last week were 5.8 million barrels higher than in the week ended Jan. 23, which was the lowest since September 1975.

Supplies of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, fell 1.5 million barrels, the same as analysts forecast. Gasoline supplies dropped 2.8 million barrels to 199.7 million, according to the report. Analysts forecast a decline of 2.5 million barrels.

Heating oil prices reached $1.337, the highest since the contract was introduced in 1978. Heating oil for October delivery was up 3.11 cents, or 2.4 percent, at $1.334 a gallon in New York.

Gasoline for October delivery was up 4.44 cents, or 3.4 percent, at $1.338 a gallon in New York.

Refineries curbed operations by 7.6 percentage points to 88.1 percent of capacity, the lowest since the week ended April 9. Analysts forecast a decline of 3 percentage points.