STEVE INSKEEP, host: Today's business report will focus on the future of oil.  We begin      December will fuel oil costing consumers one-third more than when the      year began. Crude oil prices are somewhere south of $60 a barrel.  The      question is where the energy market goes next, and in a moment, we'll      hear the forecast of an oil company CEO.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: First, we get the basic numbers from NPR's Scott Horsley.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY reporting: The price of crude oil rose by 85 cents a barrel Wednesday after a weekly      report from the Energy Department showed a sharper-than-expected drop in      crude oil stockpiles.  Oil prices have fallen more than $12 a barrel from      their peak level after Hurricane Katrina.  But with domestic production      still feeling the effects of that storm, government forecasters suggest      the downward trend may be ending, especially if the weather turns colder.      If so, retail gasoline prices may also level off somewhere above the      $2-a-gallon mark.  And diesel prices have stayed stubbornly high, with      the average this week of nearly $2.48 a gallon.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY reporting: Scott Horsley, NPR News.
Oil prices have fallen more than $12 a barrel from their peak level after Hurricane Katrina. But with domestic production still feeling the effects of that storm, government forecasters suggest the downward trend may be ending.