Oil prices extended the gains they had made before the weekend as cold weather struck the US northeast, the world's biggest consumer of heating fuel, dealers said New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, jumped by 68 cents to 60.00 usd per barrel in electronic dealing In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for January delivery gained 84 cents to 57.89 usd per barrel Prices rose "on expectations that falling temperatures in the US will boost demand for heating oil", analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm said Temperatures were set to hit minus 9.0 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit) this week in New York State, according to US forecasters Sucden analysts added: "A pick up in fund buying also lifted the market on concern that despite heating oil stocks being very comfortable, the lack of refinery capacity may mean that supply will struggle to keep up with demand if the cold snap is prolonged." Weather forecasters were predicting a prolonged cold snap in the US northeast, which consumes about 80 pct of the country's heating oil "Now the market is reacting to the cold weather that has finally descended even though the crude oil market is well supplied," said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz Inventories of US distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, jumped by 3.4 mln barrels during the week that ended Nov 25, the Department of Energy said last week