LONDON: Oil prices fell on Thursday on profit-taking after a freezing winter across the northern hemisphere helped push them to 14-month high points overnight, analysts said. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for February delivery shed 64 cents to 82.54 dollars a barrel and was on course to end lower for the first time in ten sessions. The US benchmark oil rose to an intraday peak of 83.52 dollars on Wednesday, its highest price since October 9, 2008. Brent North Sea crude for February delivery fell 58 cents to 81.31 dollars in London trading early on Thursday. The cold spell sweeping across the northern hemisphere has helped the surge in crude prices but investors on Thursday were evaluating signs of weakening energy demand in the US, the world's biggest oil user, analysts said. A weekly report by the US Department of Energy (DoE) published on Wednesday showed that crude oil reserves rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week ending January 1, instead of the expected drop of some 300,000 barrels. Stockpiles of distillates -- including heating fuel and diesel -- fell by 300,000 barrels in the week, sharply below the average analyst forecast of a drop of 1.8 million barrels amid cold weather across sections of the US. 'The inventory statistics were very bearish,' said Mitsubishi Corp. analyst Tony Nunan. 'A much bigger draw was expected but... it got a lot colder after that report so we could see much bigger draws in inventories next week.' Nunan added that geopolitical factors including terrorism concerns in Yemen following the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and tensions between US and Iran could send prices higher. 'I think that a lot of people realise that there is still a big threat in Yemen which is right next to Saudi Arabia, so that could be a big geopolitical risk issue.' The Nigerian who has been charged over a botched Christmas Day bomb attack onboard a US airliner had met with radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, a top Yemeni official said on Thursday. Oil prices began 2010 with a bang on Monday, soaring by more than two dollars as freezing temperatures spread. Reports that Russia had cut supplies to Belarus also helped push prices higher, dealers said. Officials in Belarus denied the reports, however.