* Egypt's unrest rattles markets, sends oil soaring
* U.S. growth, consumer spending speeds up in Q4
* Brent/U.S. crude spread narrows from 2-year peak
* Coming up: U.S. Feb refined fuel contracts expire Monday
(Updates trading volume, adds detail on Mubarak speech)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Brent oil hit a 28-month peak
and closed in on $100 a barrel while U.S. crude surged more
than 4 percent on Friday as unrest in Egypt rattled markets.
U.S. oil got an early boost from data showing the U.S.
economy gathered speed in the fourth quarter to regain its
pre-recession peak, helping narrow the discount to Brent crude
after it touched a two-year high. []
But the Middle East became the focus as President Hosni
Mubarak sent troops and armored cars onto the streets of Cairo
and other Egyptian cities on Friday in an attempt to quell
street fighting and mass protests demanding an end to his
30-year rule. []
"Whenever you have violence in the Middle East, you have
(traders) buying on risk," said analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov at
VTB Capital in London.
President Mubarak addressed the nation after oil markets
had closed and said Egypt needed dialogue not violence to end
problems that led to days of protests and that he was sacking
his government, adding that he would move to appoint a new
government on Saturday. []
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Reuters Insider: Turmoil in Egypt roils commodities
http://link.reuters.com/gej77r
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In London, ICE Brent crude for March <LCOc1> rose $2.03 to
settle at $99.42 a barrel and reached $99.74 intraday. It was
the highest close since Sept. 26 2008, soon after the collapse
of Lehman Brothers.
Brent crude posted a 1.86 percent weekly increase.
May Brent and contracts for other months further out on the
curve topped $100 a barrel intraday on Friday, and the Brent
July contract <LCON1> settled at $100.18 a barrel.
U.S. crude oil for March delivery <CLc1> rose $3.70, or 4.3
percent, to settle at $89.34 a barrel, with trade volume just
above 1.38 million lots, according to Reuters data, the second
highest to the record 1.432 million lots on April 13, 2010.
U.S. oil ended only up 23 cents for the week and was
rebounding from a nearly 2-percent loss on Thursday.
Total Brent trading volume was 570,155 lots traded,
according to Reuters data, below the record of 726,578
contracts traded on Jan. 12.
U.S. oil's gains squeezed Brent's premium over its U.S.
counterpart <CL-LCO1=R> to $10.08, based on settlement prices,
after reaching a two-year high over $12 per barrel. Large
volumes of crude at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for
U.S futures have weighed on the U.S. benchmark this month,
while supply concerns have supported Brent. []
"Rapidly escalating tensions in Egypt that are spreading
into surrounding countries such as Yemen are forcing a
significant amount of geopolitical risk premium into the oil
complex," Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch &
Associates in Galena, Illinois, said in a note.
Speculators cut their net long positions in U.S. crude oil
by 19 percent in the week to Jan. 25, the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission said on Friday, in a report released after
settlement prices were posted. []
Oil prices fell to $86.19 a barrel on Jan. 25 from $91.38
the previous Tuesday.
EYES ON EGYPT
Stocks around the world fell and the dollar gained on
Friday as images of street battles in Egypt riveted investors
and raised concerns the protests will intensify and spread
across the Middle East. []
Despite the unrest, the Suez Canal has been operating
normally over the past three days even as the turmoil in Egypt
intensified, and the transit schedule for Saturday shows no
delays, a shipping source said. []
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York and
Christopher Johnson and Emma Farge in London)
