Oil prices rebounded slightly after reaching two months lows yesterday on concerns that high prices have crimped demand for oil products in the US. At 12.13 pm, November-dated Brent futures contracts were up 75 cents at 59.12 usd a barrel while US benchmark November-dated contracts were up 78 cents at 62.14 usd. Mike Wittner at Calyon said the rebound was "just noise" and that with oil prices having fallen by as much as 5 usd this week, he would not read anything into a change of less than a dollar. However, he maintained that with winter approaching and refineries in the US still shut in following the recent hurricanes, the market is not about to head south. About 18 pct of refining capacity in the US remains down after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, leaving markets concerned about heating oil supplies ahead of the northern hemisphere winter. But Sucden analyst Sam Tilley pointed out that "the market has changed recently, focusing on bearish news despite bullish news still prevalent". Tilley's price target for Brent crude remains around 55 usd, but he said if production does not start to pick up soon, prices could move back above 60 usd a barrel. He said heating oil stocks of are still reasonably high ahead of winter, at 57.6 mln barrels against 51.7 mln barrels a year earlier. But Wednesday's weekly snapshot of US stock levels showed greater than expected draws. According to the US Department of Energy, crude stocks for the week to Sept 30 were down by 300,000 barrels, with gasoline down by 4.3 mln barrels and distillates losing 5.6 mln barrels. Stock levels were depressed by refineries operating at only about 70 pct capacity - their lowest levels since at least 1985.