* Risk appetite wanes as Greek debt crisis drags on
* European refinery runs fall again in March - Euroilstock
* Explosion halts northern Iraq oil pipeline flow to Turkey
* Coming Up: German Ifo report; Friday 0800 GMT
(Updates prices, adds detail)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Oil fell to around $82 a barrel
on Thursday as more evidence of the deteriorating financial
position of Greece eroded risk appetite across global markets.
The European Union said on Thursday Greece had much larger
budget deficits last year than anticipated and the cost of
insuring Greek debt hit a record high. []
Wall Street [] fell at the open on Thursday while European
shares [] were down around 1.5 percent with banks suffering.
The Greek news compounded sentiment in an already bearish
oil market after higher U.S. inventories signalled demand in the
United States was sluggish despite the global economic recovery.
U.S. benchmark June light crude oil futures, also known as
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), <CLc1> dropped almost $2 per
barrel to a low of $81.73 before recovering slightly to trade
around $82.00, down $1.68, by 1351 GMT. The front-month contract
reached an 18-month high above $87 on April 6.
Crude stocks in the United States rose unexpectedly last
week, government statistics showed on Wednesday, and fuel
supplies climbed more than forecast. []
U.S. prices came under pressure from figures showing a
1.8-million-barrel rise to over 34 million barrels last week in
crude oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the landlocked
pricing point for NYMEX crude futures.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), said the
increase at Cushing was responsible for most of a national U.S.
crude oil stocks rise of 1.9 million barrels.
But ICE Brent <LCOc1> held up better than U.S. crude futures
and June Brent was trading around $2 higher than WTI on
Thursday, down $1.25 cents at $84.45 a barrel.
North Sea crude supplies will tighten over the next month
due to offshore maintenance work and Brent is also responding to
evidence of more Chinese demand, analysts say. []
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Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank, said the EIA
report was still weighing heavily on the oil market.
"Our view is that oil prices are somewhat decoupled from
fundamentals at the moment and do not yet reflect the high level
of stocks," Fritsch said.
Edward Meir, analyst at brokers MF Global, highlighted what
he saw as the potentially negative influence of the dollar on
oil as the euro remained under pressure after dropping against
the dollar for a fifth day in a row on Wednesday.
The dollar was up around 0.6 percent against a basket of
currencies on Thursday. [] <EUR=>
"We would suggest that prices have gotten somewhat ahead of
the fundamentals," Meir said. "We are consequently looking for a
modest pullback over the short-term, particularly if the dollar
continues to strengthen on the back of the Greek debt crisis."
European oil industry data added to the bearish tone with
figures from industry monitor Euroilstock showing oil refinery
output in 16 European countries fell by 10.1 percent in March
from the same month last year. []
The market received some support from news of an explosion
early on Thursday on the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline which carries
a quarter of Iraq's crude exports. []
The pipeline blast in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh
is likely to affect oil exports via the Kirkuk to Ceyhan
pipeline for as much as a week, Iraqi officials said.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by Keiron Henderson)
