By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil seesawed on Friday while heating oil hit a more than four-month high as severe cold weather crimped output at three U.S. refineries, raising worries about higher crude supplies and a possible squeeze on refined products.
At least three refineries that account for more than two-thirds of the U.S. East Coast's output experienced significant disruptions due to single-digit temperatures that sent the entire Northeast into a deep freeze.
Bets on a further drop in the U.S. oil rig count and short-covering in U.S. crude futures ahead of the expiry of the front-month contract provided some support to oil, traders said.
"It's sell crude, buy products today," said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York.
"The issues with the East Coast refiners have certainly been weighing on the market, though people will also be wary of the rig count data due later in the day and the possible activity in U.S. crude before March futures expire."
The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell to its lowest since August 2011 last week. Oil services firm Baker Hughes Inc will provide updated data on the count at 1:00 p.m. EST.
The March contract in U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
Benchmark Brent crude for April
Brent's premium to U.S. crude
U.S. heating oil
The heating oil rally came after Phillips 66 began experiencing extended delays in restarting a crude unit at its 238,000-barrel-per-day Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, according to person familiar with the facility's operations.
In Trainer, Pennsylvania, Delta Refinery said the facility's cooling system, which normally draws water from the Delaware River, is partly frozen, and it had shut a fluid catalytic cracking unit.
Intelligence group Genscape reported that Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc
(Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs in London and Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by Chris Reese)
