US light crude lost 41 cents to $62.03 a barrel by 0735 GMT after it jumped $2.12 on Tuesday, reversing a five-session losing streak. London Brent crude shed 32 cents to $59.92 a barrel.
"Natural gas supplies have been severely disrupted in North America and the shortages took heating oil and crude prices higher," said Keiichi Sano, manager of the commodity business unit at Sumitomo Corp in Tokyo.
A 10 percent spike in NYMEX November natural gas futures, triggered by severely low production after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, may force more US consumers and industry users to switch to heating oil or fuel oil in the coming months.
The market was waiting for the US government to release its weekly oil inventory data later on Wednesday for a clear direction on demand in the world's top energy consumer. US distillate stocks - heating oil and diesel fuel - are forecast to have fallen by 800,000 barrels in the week ended October 21, a Reuters survey of 13 analysts showed.
Crude stockpiles, however, were likely to have risen by 1.9 million barrels on heavy imports, marking a third successive weekly increase, the survey found.
Data from the US Minerals Management Service showed that losses in US natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico deepened slightly on Tuesday to 5.58 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) from 5.47 bcfd on Monday, or nearly 56 percent of the total daily output from offshore wells.
Prices also drew support from an early-season Nor'easter. The storm, which brings chilly Northeast winds to the coast, was pelting the Eastern seaboard on Tuesday with parts of the Northeast expected to get some of the season's first snow.