* U.S. crude inventories show surprise draw
* Oil leak and pipeline fire disrupt Russian oil flows
* Chinese manufacturing index up for third month in a row
* OPEC to take output policy decision on March 15
(Updates throughout)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures extended
their gains to above $45 on Wednesday after stocks of crude in
the United States declined unexpectedly and demand for gasoline
rose.
Prices were also supported by further supply disruption in
Nigeria, as well as more positive economic news from China.
U.S. oil futures <CLc1> for April delivery rose to $45.02,
up $3.37, by 1612 GMT.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $2.57 to $46.27 a barrel.
"Overall the numbers are very bullish ... again, gasoline
remains the one bright spot in the market that can really pull
the complex higher," Chris Jarvis of Caprock Risk Management
said.
"Couple that with the composite of economic news out of
China overnight and this is really setting the stage for the
energy complex ... to move higher if the equities market can
maintain themselves..."
Weekly U.S. inventory data showed stocks of crude oil in the
world's top consumer declined by 700,000 barrels versus
expectations of a 1.2 million barrel build. Demand for gasoline
over the past four weeks was up 2.2 percent from a year ago.
[]
An oil leak and a fire on a pipeline in central Russia have
halted flows to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and exports
were unlikely to resume in the next three-to-four days, a port
official said. []
Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi
Arabia, sends more than a quarter of its oil exports via the
Black Sea ports of Novorossiisk, Odessa and Yuzhny.
Production has been disrupted in Nigeria by suspected
sabotage. A senior official at the state-run NNPC said up to
70,000 barrels per day (bpd) had been shut in following pipeline
explosions.
Oil supplies have already started to tighten, in part
following action by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries to reduce supply.
U.S. crude inventory data from inventory body the American
Petroleum Institute on Tuesday showed U.S. crude stocks had
fallen by 463,000 barrels last week following lower imports and
higher demand from refiners.
Oil prices have traded in a narrow band around $40 since
mid-December, pulled down by falling demand but drawing some
support from expectations OPEC might cut production again when
it meets on March 15.
The 12-member producer group has announced plans to lower
oil output by 4.2 million bpd from production levels in
September and a Reuters survey found OPEC members had already
met at least 81 percent of their promised cuts.
OPEC sources said on Wednesday that Angola, which is
currently president of the group, did not advocate a further
reduction at the next meeting on March 15 in Vienna, although
other OPEC members have yet to make a decision.
Venezuela, Algeria and Libya have raised the possibility of
a further reduction, while Iran has said OPEC needed to define a
mechanism to support prices, without specifying what form it
would take.
Data from China gave room for cautious economic optimism,
with implications for higher oil demand, as the main gauge of
China's manufacturing sector, its purchasing managers' index
(PMI), rose in February. []
China's PMI index rose for the third month in a row last
month as factories restocked in anticipation of an early revival
in the economy.
The data helped to revive sentiment on equity markets on
Wednesday after the United States' S&P ended below 700 for the
first time since October 1996. []
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in Singapore; editing by
James Jukwey)
