By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures were little changed Wednesday ahead of government data that will show last week's U.S. petroleum inventories. Crude for February delivery was last up 0.1% at $81.81 a barrel. It ended Tuesday's trading up for a ninth straight session, the longest winning streak in more than five months as cold weather in the U.S. raised expectations for higher fuel demand. The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly update at 10:30 am Eastern time. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect a decline of 1.6 million barrels in crude inventories. They also predict an increase of 1.2 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles and a decrease of 1.8 million barrels in distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported a 2.3-million-barrel drop in oil inventories. It also reported big buildups in petroleum products, an indication that demand is still weak. The EIA and the API use different criteria to measure stockpiles. "Should the EIA stock[pile] data follow the same pattern, we could see prices under considerable pressure in Wednesday's session," said Edward Meir, an analyst at MF Global. "Investors will be reminded that despite the colder weather, stocks remain uncomfortably high." Analysts at AccuWeather.com said the eastern half of the U.S. is facing its coldest winter since 1982. Natural gas, one of the major fuels used in heating, is trading near its one-year high. On Wednesday, February natural gas rose 2.8% to $5.798 per million British thermal units. In economic news, private-sector firms in the U.S. eliminated 84,000 jobs in December, according to the ADP employment report released Wednesday. It was the fewest jobs lost since March 2008. In other energy trading, February gasoline lost 0.7% to $2.11 a gallon, and February heating oil lost 0.6% to $2.181 a gallon. In currencies trading, the dollar index (DXY 77.67, +0.05, +0.06%) was little changed at 77.681.

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