* Oil rises to $57/bbl, market eyes economic data
* Nigeria militants say blow up two oil, gas pipelines
* Kuwait sees no need for OPEC cut
(Updates prices, analyst comments, refinery outage in the U.S)
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, May 18 (Reuters) - Oil bounced back to $57 a barrel
on Monday, recouping some of the previous session's near 4
percent loss, buoyed by short-covering despite a still
uncertain outlook for the global economy.
U.S. crude for June delivery <CLc1> rose 59 cents to $56.93
a barrel by 0802 GMT, after climbing to $57.10. The contract
fell $2.28 to settle at $56.34 a barrel on Friday, down from a
six-month high of more than $60 hit earlier last week.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 60 cents to $56.58.
"Prices are up on short-covering and traders are buying in
after the sharp sell-off on Friday," said Tetsu Emori, a
commodity fund manager at Astmax Co Ltd.
Analysts said investors would be eyeing data on U.S.
homebuilder sentiment and sales later on Monday to gauge how
the world's largest economy is faring.
Confidence at Japan's manufacturers edged up from record
lows, a Reuters monthly poll showed, as rebounds in exports and
production suggest the world's No.2 economy may have reached a
trough in the first quarter.
Asian shares fell on Monday as concerns about slumping
corporate profits and the still-uncertain outlook for the
global economy fueled a retreat from recent highs. []
Oil fell nearly 4 percent toward $56 a barrel on Friday as
dealers became increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for
global energy demand after three top energy forecasters -- the
International Energy Agency (IEA), the Energy Information
Administration (EIA), and OPEC -- recently downgraded their
forecasts for global energy demand in 2009.
Losses on equities markets and moderate gains in the U.S.
dollar against other currencies also encouraged selling in the
commodities markets.
OPEC, which has agreed to cut 4.2 million barrels per day
(bpd) of output since September, will meet on May 28 to revisit
production policy.
Kuwait's oil minister told Reuters in an interview there
was no need for further output cuts by the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries, as he did not want to see oil
prices go up too fast. []
Nigerian militants said on Sunday they had blown up two oil
and gas pipelines near to Escravos in the Niger Delta and that
they were moving a British hostage into the area where there
has been heavy recent fighting. []
On Monday, the main militant group said it would blockade
key waterways in the Niger Delta to try to prevent crude
exports after days of military helicopter and gunboat raids on
its camps. []
Despite an IEA forecast that world oil demand will post its
sharpest annual decline since 1981 this year, oil has recovered
from a low of $32.40 touched in December to hover between $50
and $55 a barrel most of the month, tracking a broader equities
market rally underpinned by hopes of an economic recovery.
On refinery news, Sunoco Inc <SUN.N> said on Monday
production at its 178,000-bpd Marcus Hook refinery on the
Pennsylvania-Delaware border was "impacted" by a fire after
explosions at the plant on Sunday night.
Analysts said the outage could lend support to U.S.
gasoline prices ahead of the summer driving season, which begin
next week.
(Editing by Ramthan Hussain)
