NYMEX-Oil rises toward $78, Iran tensions supports

                                
 PERTH, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Crude prices rose toward $78 a
barrel on Monday amid heightened tensions between Iran and
Western nations, after Tehran said it would begin war games to
help protect its nuclear facilities.
                                
 FUNDAMENTALS
                                
 * NYMEX crude for January delivery rose 42 cents to $77.89
a barrel by 2359 GMT. The December contract, which expired on
Friday, settled down 74 cents at $76.72 a barrel, weighed down
by a stronger dollar and concerns about the energy demand
outlook.
                                
 * Iran's military said it would begin large-scale air
defence drills on Sunday, and a cleric in the Revolutionary
Guards warned the Islamic Republic would fire missiles at "the
heart of Tel Aviv" if attacked. [ID:nDAH128498]
                                
 * Iran's OPEC governor said the crude market was in balance
and oil supply and demand were close to each other, the Jam-e
Jam newspaper reported on Sunday. [ID:nDAH128498]
                                
 * Money managers boosted net long crude oil positions on
the New York Mercantile Exchange in the week through Nov. 17,
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a report on
Friday. [ID:nN20126702]
                                
 MARKETS NEWS
                                
 * The U.S. dollar inched higher on Monday, extending a
short-covering bounce as investors pared risk trades in a
holiday-thinned week. [USD/]
                                
 * U.S. stocks could sputter next week as volumes dry up in
holiday-shortened trading and with a slew of economic reports
likely to illustrate that the recovery is still fragile.
[ID:nN20225611]
                                
 * U.S. stocks fell for a third straight day on Friday as
investors took weaker-than-expected results from computer maker
Dell <DELL.O> and homebuilder D.R. Horton <DHI.N> as a further
sign the recovery would be anemic. [.N]
                                
 DATA/EVENTS
                                
 * The following data is expected on Monday:
                                
 -- Chicago Fed Index/Oct (1330 GMT)
                                
 -- Existing Home Sales/Oct (1500 GMT)
                                
 RELATED NEWS > Oil slips 1 percent on dollar rise          
  [ID:nSP361511] > Global stocks slip, dollar gains            
 [ID:nN20237150] > Commods mixed on dollar strength vs
investment [ID:nN20241114]
                                
 PRICES
 Oil prices as of 0001 GMT          
 Contract Mnth    Price  Change  Day ago     pct     MA-20*
 NYMEX Contracts
 US Crude JAN0   $77.88   +0.41   -$0.58  -0.74%     $78.53
 Heat Oil DEC9   198.14   +0.58    -2.08  -1.04%     203.15
 RBOB     DEC9   199.00   +0.94    +1.11  +0.56%     198.65
 Natgas   DEC9   $4.514  +0.090  +$0.082  +1.89%     $4.594
 ICE Contracts
 Brent    JAN0   $77.60   +0.40   -$0.44  -0.57%     $77.43
#VALUE!
 Note: U.S. heating oil and RBOB gasoline contracts listed in
cents per gallon.
 * = 20-day moving average for continuation month.
 (Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((fayen.wong@thomsonreuters.com; +618 9456 1947; Reuters
Messaging: fayen.wong.reuters.com@reuters.net))
 ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email
to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
                                
                   RECENT CRUDE OIL TRADES
                                
 Asia...[ACRU/T]      Europe...[CRU/T]   Americas...[CRU/TU]
                                
                    CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS
                                
 Crude oil tenders in Asia.........[CRU/TENDA]
                                
 Crude oil supply outages in
Asia............[CRU/OUT-ASIA-O]
                                
 Refinery outages in Asia.....[REF/OUT-ASIA-O]
                                
 Global arbitrage news and flows..[O/CRUDEARB]
                                
 W.African crude imports to Asia,
monthly........[O/WAFRICA1]
                                
                 REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES
                                
 Asia...[REF/A]     Middle East...[REF/ME]  Europe...[REF/E]
                                
                    NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA
                                
 Japan..............<METI/JP1> 
China..............[O/CHINA1]
                                
 India..............[O/INDIA2] 
S.Korea............[O/KOREA1]
                                
 Indonesia.......[O/INDO1-CRU]
                                
                    CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA
                                
 Japan...[O/JAPAN1]     US...[EIA/S]    Europe...[O/EUROIL1]
                                
                 CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS
                                
 OPEC output survey...[OPEC/O]   New Asian
fields...[ASIA/NEW]
                                
 New Africa fields...[AFR/NEW]   New Europe
fields..[NSEA/NEW]
                                
 New Americas fields..[AM/NEW]   New
projects.....[ENERGY/NEW]
                                
                    CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS
                                
 Middle East...........[CRU/M]  Asia-Pacific........[CRU/AP]
                                
 West Africa.........[CRU/WAF]   North
Sea............[CRU/E]
                                
 Asia outlook.......[ASIA/CRU]   Europe
outlook.....[EUR/CRU]
                                
 Global futures report...[O/R]   Technicals
report......[O/I]
                                
                         PRICES
                                
 For all Official Selling Prices.......[OSP/O]
                                
 For a POLL on oil prices.............[O/POLL]
                                
 NYMEX and ICE oil futures............<OILOIL>
                                
 TOCOM crude oil futures..............<0#JCO:>
                                
 Dubai, Oman swaps and
spread...............<ASIA/SWAP/CRUDE>
                                
 Middle East physical crude
diffs...............<CRUDE/ASIA2>
                                
 Australia physical crude, Tapis
swaps..........<CRUDE/ASIA1>
                                
 Asia-Pacific physical crude.....<CRUDE/ASIA3>
                                
 All Asian crude oil differentials.<0#C-DIF-A>
                                
 All Asian crude oil outright prices...<0#C-A>