Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Heating oil futures maintained a gain after the Energy Department reported distillate stockpiles rose last week.

The government said inventories of heating oil and diesel increased 1.21 million barrels to 140.4 million in the seven days ended Dec. 23. The median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 650,000-barrel drop.

January-delivery heating oil rose 0.67 cent to $2.9001 a gallon at 11:03 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were $2.901 before the report’s release at 11 a.m. in Washington.

The government said gasoline inventories fell 692,000 barrels to 217.7 million. Analysts forecast a 500,000-barrel decrease, according to the survey.

Gasoline for January delivery sank 0.86 cent, or 0.3 percent, to $2.6427 a gallon, from $2.638 before the report.

--Editors: David Marino, Richard Stubbe

To contact the reporter on this story: David Marino in New York at dmarino4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bill Banker at bbanker@bloomberg.net