* Dollar gains, U.S. stock markets fall
* France refinery strike enters sixth day
* Chinese refinery processing in Jan rises 29 pct on year
(Updates throughout, changes dateline from previous
LONDON)
NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Oil slipped from six-week
highs on Monday as economic concerns sent investors into safer
havens such as the dollar.
The dollar edged up against the euro as markets remained
anxious about unresolved debt problems in Greece and a surprise
rise in the Federal Reserve's emergency lending rate. U.S.
stock markets fell. []
U.S. crude for March delivery <CLc1>, which expires on
Monday, fell 7 cents to $79.74 a barrel by 11:24 EST (1624 GMT)
after hitting $80.51 earlier -- the highest for a front-month
contract since Jan. 13. Brent crude <LCOc1> for April gave up 6
cents to trade at $78.13 a barrel.
The losses came after U.S. crude surged 7.7 percent last
week, the largest single-week percentage gain since October,
finding support from a strike by refiners in France and
tensions over Iran's nuclear program.
OPEC member Iran has earmarked potential sites for new
nuclear enrichment plants and construction of two of them could
begin this year, a nuclear energy official said on Monday.
[]
Workers at Total's French refineries continued strike
action, raising concern about fuel supplies and supporting the
price of refined products such as gasoil. Talks broke down on
Sunday between Total and workers protesting against the
possible closure of the company's Dunkirk refinery in northern
France. []
The 339,000 barrel-per-day Gonfreville refinery will halt
production fully late on Tuesday due to the strike, the CGT
union said. Four other Total refineries are in the process of
halting production.
Data from No. 2 consumer China showed strong demand growth
last month. The China Petroleum and Chemical Industry
Association (CPCIA) said China processed 30.14 million tonnes
of crude in January, up 29 percent from a year earlier.
[]
Analysts said oil inventories at sea, which rose last year
due to the weak demand, may be falling.
Societe Generale, in a note dated Friday, said preliminary
inventory data for the United States, Japan and Europe, as well
as short-term floating storage, showed a 2.17 million
barrel-per-day decline in crude and refined products stocks in
the first half of February.
"Stock movements -- building in January and falling sharply
in February so far, also neatly explain the price action,"
Societe Generale's Michael Wittner said, referring to the rally
in prices over the past week.
Some think the rally has further to run. Goldman Sachs said
that benchmark oil prices will rise to $85 to $95 a barrel this
year as global economic growth accelerates. []
(Reporting by Robert Gibbons, Gene Ramos, Matthew Robinson in
New York; Alex Lawler in London; Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing
by Lisa Shumaker)
