* U.S. jobless claims data due Thursday
* U.S. crude stock data higher than expected
* Russia gas row, Mideast violence, OPEC cuts support
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Chris Baldwin
LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Oil traded higher on Thursday,
reaching $43 a barrel after diving 12 percent overnight, partly
due to higher than expected U.S. crude stocks data that hardened
evidence of weakening demand.
U.S. crude for February delivery <CLc1> was up 93 cents at
$43.56 a barrel by 1208 GMT, after sinking 12.3 percent to
$42.63 overnight, its biggest one-day percentage loss since
Sept. 24, 2001.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.38 at $47.24.
The market waited for weekly U.S. jobless claims due later
in the day, and December non-farm payroll and unemployment data
on Friday, expected to be dismal, for clues on future demand.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data
showed crude stocks up 6.7 million barrels, more than seven
times the 900,000-barrel increase analysts expected. []
"Brent is done going under $40, but WTI is a different
animal altoether...crude stocks in the Midwest are very high
because Cushing is a landlocked base with pipes that only go in
one direction," said Christopher Bellew of Bache Financial.
Crude oil storage at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub rose
4.1 million barrels to 32.2 million barrels in the week to Jan.
2, according to Wednesday's EIA data, a new record that may test
capacity, an official at the EIA said. []
Wednesday's bearish reading on private sector payrolls from
ADP Employer Services signalled more weakness to come in
Friday's fuller U.S. Labor Department employment report.
ADP's data showed private employers shedding 693,000 jobs in
December, up from 476,000 jobs in November and far more than
economists estimated. []
JOBLESS
The Labor Department will also release weekly first-time
claims for jobless benefits later on Thursday. Economists in a
Reuters survey forecast a total of 540,000 new filings compared
with 492,000 in the previous week.
Oil has fallen more than $100 from a record peak of over
$147 a barrel in July, as the global economic downturn hit
demand for fuel. It settled at $33.87 a barrel on Dec. 19, the
lowest level since Feb. 10, 2004.
Prices had gained some support from violence in Gaza,
widening natural gas supply disruptions due to a row between
Russia and Ukraine, and mounting evidence of OPEC's compliance
with production cuts.
Three rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on
Thursday, slightly wounding two people and prompting the Jewish
state to respond with artillery fire, officials said.
[]
While the conflict does not directly threaten any oil
supplies, Middle East unrest can bolster prices because
countries in the region pump about a third of the world's oil.
Russia and Ukraine failed to resolve a gas row at a meeting
in Moscow but will continue talks to end the dispute which has
choked off supplies to Europe, a senior Ukrainian gas official
said on Thursday. []
The dispute has cut heating to hundreds of thousands of
people across the Balkans and hit supplies as far west as France
and Germany as Europe faces freezing temperatures.
Signs that members of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) are implementing the group's
biggest-ever output cuts grew this week after Kuwait and Iran
told customers of bigger January supply curbs. []
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in Singapore; editing by
James Jukwey)
