* Mideast tension remains concern after Mubarak ouster
* Chinese trade data shows crude imports surge
* Coming Up: API oil data 4:30 p.m. EST Tuesday
(Recasts, updates prices and market activity, changes byline
and dateline, previous LONDON)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil rose nearly 3
percent on Monday, pushing above $104 a barrel on lift from
spreading Middle East protests and rising imports from China
that also helped U.S. refined oil products futures surge.
After Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak stepped down last
week, protests in Yemen, Iran, Algeria and Bahrain highlighted
the potential for unrest to spread to oil-producing nations
nearby and Europe is seen as more immediately vulnerable to any
supply interruption. [] []
[]
High inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, pressured U.S.
crude, however, pushing out the spread between Brent and U.S.
crude to $14.
Brent crude <LCOc1> for April delivery rose $2.92 to
$103.86 a barrel at 12:34 p.m. EST (1734 GMT), having earlier
reached $104.30.
The Brent March contract expired Friday after events in
Egypt helped push prices above $100 on Jan. 31 for the first
time since 2008.
U.S. crude for March <CLc1> was near flat, down 1 cent at
$85.57.
Brokers noted support held at U.S. crude's earlier $85.13
low, just above Friday's 10-week intraday low of $85.10.
Brent crude's premium to U.S. crude <CL-LCO1=R> reached a
record $16.24 on Friday, the Brent March contract's expiration
day. The spread between the April contracts widened to more
than $14 Monday.
"Brent is pulling the complex higher on Middle East
uncertainty. Bahrain and Yemen are a little close to Saudi
Arabia for comfort," said John Kilduff, partner at Again
Capital LLC.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic on Brent/U.S. crude: http://r.reuters.com/zad97r
Analysis on Brent: []
Technical view on U.S. crude: []
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
U.S. gasoline futures <RBc1> jumped more than 2 percent and
reached a $2.55 a gallon peak intraday, with heating oil <HOc1>
futures also up more than 2 percent.
The gasoline strength came despite news Europe is set to
export around 300,000 tonnes of gasoline to the United States
in the next few weeks. []
(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London and Jennifer
Tan in Singapore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
