* U.S. oil inventories fall, mostly in line with forecasts
* Enbridge close to completing Canada-U.S. duct repairs
* Yen falls vs dollar, euro due to intervention
(Updates prices)
By Ikuko Kurahone
LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Oil trimmed earlier losses on
Wednesday due to a fall in U.S. inventories, while the recovery
prices was limited by the potential reopening of the biggest
Canada-U.S. crude pipeline.
The yen slipped against the U.S. dollar and the euro as
Japan's central bank intervened to sell its currency for the
first time in six years. But analysts said immediate impact on
oil prices would be limited. []
By 1459 GMT, U.S. crude for October <CLc1> was trading $1.19
lower at $75.61 a barrel, having fallen more than $2 earlier.
European market Brent <LCOc1> dipped by 40 cents to $78.76.
Crude oil inventories in the United States, the world's top
oil consumer, fell 2.49 million barrels in the week to Sept. 10,
mostly in line with analysts' forecast, weekly data from the
Energy Information Administration showed. []
"It has been a while since I last saw EIA numbers being spot
on with forecasts," Mike Zarembski, senior commodities analysts
for Optionsxpress, said.
"Oil traders are looking outside the numbers today and are
more focused on Enbridge having repaired its 6A pipeline. We
are expecting oil will start to flow into the Midwest again."
Canada's Enbridge <ENB.TO>, which has been hit by three
pipeline outages since July, said repairs on its U.S.-bound 6A
oil pipeline was completed on Tuesday.
The pipeline operator does not know when it will receive
permission from federal regulators to restart the pipeline.
[]
A report signalled the restart may come by the end of the
week. [] []
"The market driver today is the expectation that Enbridge
(pipeline) will come back online sooner rather than later,"
Olivier Jakob, consultant with Petromatrix, said.
Discounts on U.S. crude to Brent crude steepened to about
$3.16 a barrel after narrowing to less than $1.40 earlier this
week. They were wider than $3.50 a week ago, before the line
halted flows. <CL-LCO1=R>
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Graphic on Brent/U.S. crude spread:
http://link.reuters.com/vew63p
For yen strength:
http://r.reuters.com/puw56n
Crude oil prices in major currencies []
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The U.S. dollar extended its gains against the yen <JPY=>
after an official at Japan's Ministry of Finance said
intervention was not over. It climbed more than 3 percent on the
day above 85 yen and above a 15-year low. [] []
Dollar versus euro, the currency pairing most oil traders
have been focusing on, was mostly stable. <EUR=>
"A weaker yen means stronger dollar, which should mean lower
oil prices. However, the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen have
generally moved together as they are both considered as safe
havens," Tony Nunan with Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo said.
"So most people were looking at the U.S. dollar versus the
euro, or a basket. Japanese oil demand growth is so bad and I am
not too sure how much effect the yen will have."
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore,
Editing by Alison Birrane)
