UPDATE 6-Oil falls to around $74 after U.S. data

                                
 * U.S. crude oil futures hit session low of $73.58
                                
 * Technicals show oil headed towards $72.81 [ID:nSGE68M00K]
                                
 
                                
 (Adds U.S. jobless data, comment, updates prices)
                                
 By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
                                
 LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Oil fell to around $74 a barrel
on Thursday after U.S. data showed continued labour market
weakness in the world's biggest oil user, where fuel inventories
have swollen to record levels.
                                
 U.S. jobless benefit claims rose to 465,000 last week, more
than the consensus expectation for claims to be 450,000.
[ID:nN23129887]
                                
 Front-month U.S. crude for November <CLc1> fell 63 cents to
$74.08 a barrel by 1320 GMT, having earlier hit a session low of
$73.58. November ICE Brent <LCOc1> fell 80 cents to $77.15.
                                
 "(The jobless claims) were a bit on the weak side," said Rob
Montefusco, an oil trader at Sucden Financial. "It does (put) a
little bit of pressure to the market."
                                
 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 0.07 percent against a basket of currencies.
<.DXY>
                                
 U.S. stock index futures slightly added to losses after the
jobless data. European shares, which had already slipped for a
third straight session on concerns about the state of some
European economies and on poor data, also extended losses.
<.FTEU3>
                                
 Government data on Wednesday showed an unexpected increase
in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles. [EIA/S]
                                
 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.
                                
 "The fundamentals per se are not bullish for oil."
                                
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. [EIA/S]
                                
 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. [ID:nN2213370]
 (Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by James Jukwey)