* Technicals show oil headed towards $72.81 []
* Coming Up: U.S. weekly jobless claims; 1230 GMT
(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Oil fell to around $74 on
Thursday, with markets looking to key U.S. data for the next
clues on the state of the economy of the world's biggest oil
user, where fuel inventories have swollen to record levels.
Front-month U.S. crude for November <CLc1> fell 68 cents to
$74.03 a barrel by 0937 GMT, while November ICE Brent <LCOc1>
fell 86 cents to $77.09.
Economic data later in the day include U.S. weekly jobless
claims and existing home sales for August. Government data on
Wednesday showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude and
gasoline stockpiles. []
The inventory increase last week, despite the eight day
shutdown of the biggest pipeline shipping Canadian crude to the
U.S., reaffirmed views that prices would mostly remain
rangebound for the rest of the year between $70 and $80, the
preferred level for OPEC producers.
"(The data) is showing that the U.S. continues to build.
There is still a huge stock overhang in the U.S. and the
situation is not improving," Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix said.
European shares fell on Thursday, extending their decline
for a third day, as fresh euro zone data added to existing
worries about the strength of the global economic recovery.
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The oil market has spent much of the year in lockstep with
equities and negatively correlated to the U.S. dollar. The
dollar was up 0.30 percent against a basket of currencies.
<.DXY>
"We are waiting for new data on the (U.S.) economy to see
what is going on, what the perspective for oil demand is,"
Barbara Lambrecht of Commerzbank in Frankfurt said.
RECORD LEVELS
The so-called OPEC basket price that the organisation uses
to gauge the rate of crudes from its members has averaged $75.24
so far this year.
"The oil price that key OPEC leaders signalled as being a
fair and reasonable one during the weakest phase of the economic
cycle has dominated the year, even if it could now be argued
that the economic cycle has moved on a bit," Barclays Capital
analysts headed by Paul Horsnell said.
U.S. total petroleum stockpiles climbed to a record 1.144
billion barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration
said, the highest level since it began collecting weekly data in
1990.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a decrease of 1.9
million barrels after a leak forced the shutdown of Enbridge's
<ENB.TO> 670,000-bpd 6A pipeline, which supplies refineries in
the Midwest and carries Canadian crude oil to the key storage
hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.
U.S. regulators approved a gradual restart of an Enbridge
Inc <ENB.TO> oil pipeline that ruptured more than eight weeks
ago, Line 6B, fouling a Michigan river system and squeezing oil
supplies for U.S. and Canadian refiners. []
Meanwhile, weather models continued to forecast a weather
system would move west across the Caribbean and hit Central
America in Honduras or Belize in about four or five days, and
will miss U.S. oil and natural gas operations in the northern
Gulf of Mexico. []
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by Sue Thomas)
