NEW YORK, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Prices for crude oil rose to $96.83 per barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a report U.S. inventories fell more than expected last month.

Crude oil was up 21 cents to $96.83 as U.S. stocks declined 3.3 million barrels last week to 293.6 million barrels, the sixth consecutive week of falling inventories, the U.S. Department of Energy said. Home heating oil was unchanged at $2.68 per gallon and reformulated gasoline blendstock was up fractionally to $2.49 per gallon.

Heating oil and diesel fuel distillate stocks fell 2.8 million barrels to 126.6 million barrels and gasoline stockpiles increased 700,000 barrels to 205.9 million barrels, the Energy Department said.

Natural gas prices fell 7 cents at $7.10 per million British thermal units Thursday.

At the pump, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $2.981 Thursday, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.