UPDATE 6-Oil rises on U.S. stock draw, Ike

                                
 * Several offshore U.S. oil platforms toppled by Ike
                                
 * U.S. crude stocks drop, gasoline lowest level on recrod
                                
 * U.S. stock markets slide
                                
    
 (Updates throughout)
                                
 By Jane Merriman and Matthew Robinson
                                
 LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Oil rose on Wednesday after U.S.
data showed a sharp draw in inventories due to Hurricane Ike and
concerns about the restart of offshore rigs hit by the storm.
                                
 Traders were keeping a close eye on financial markets,
however, as U.S. stocks slid due to a spike in inter-bank
lending bank rates and on concerns the U.S. goverment rescue of
insurer American International Group <AIG.N> would not stem the
turmoil that has rocked markets this week. [nN17527272]
                                
 U.S. crude <CLc1> traded up $1.44 at $92.59 a barrel at 1522
GMT, off a session high of $95.00, after turmoil in global
financial markets sent crude down 10 percent in two days to a
seven-month low as investors sought safer havens.
                                
 London Brent crude <LCOc1> gained $1.02 to $90.24.
                                
 U.S. gasoline stocks fell to the lowest level on record last
week after Ike shut refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, while
crude inventories dropped 6.3 million barrels, government data
showed, against analysts forecasts of a 3.8 million barrel draw.
[EIA/S]
                                
 Distillate stocks, including heating oil, fell by 900,000
barrels, less than half analyst forecasts.
                                
 "The gasoline and distillates draw were perhaps not as big
as some people were  expecting, but the crude draw was pretty
big," said Helen Henton, head of commodities for Standard
Charter in London.
                                
 "We expect markets to remain volatile for at least the next
few days until people start to refocus on oil market
fundamentals."
                                
 Hurricane Ike toppled several platforms in the U.S. Gulf of
Mexico and left a swathe of the nation's crude oil and refined
fuel production idled in the biggest hit to energy supplies
since 2005. [nN16482689]   
                                
Fresh attacks on Nigerian oil installations also provided
some support to the market. [nLH312392]
                                
 
                                
 ECONOMIC CONCERNS 
                                
 Oil eased off earlier highs as U.S. markets opened lower,
with shares of Wall Street firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman
Sachs plummeting and AIG down 44 percent.
                                
 The collapse of Lehman Brothers and wider financial market
turmoil has raised concerns about oil demand. Slowing oil demand
in the United States and other top consumers have pushed crude
down from record highs over $147 struck in July.
                                
 Surging consumption in emerging economies like China had
sent oil on a six-year rally, with additional support coming as
investors rushed into commodities earlier this year as a hedge
against inflation and the falling dollar.
                                
 The dollar fell against the yen as worries about the health
of the U.S. financial sector sparked risk aversion. [nN17503312]
 "I think it was a flight of capital out of the futures
markets and now we are coming back to fundamentals," said Simon
Wardell of Global Insight in London.
                                
 "I think a lot of that (investor) cash is out of commodities
and will stay out," said Wardell. "We've had outages in the Gulf
of Mexico, and I think a lot of that was overlooked."
  (Reporting by Jane Merriman, David Sheppard, and Matthew
Robinson in London and Annika Breidthardt in Singapore, editing
by Anthony Barker)