UPDATE 14-Oil falls on Japan quake, muted Saudi protest

                                
 * Japan quake shuts some refineries, nuclear plants
                                
 * Saudi Arabia protests muted by police presence
                                
 * Coming up: API oil data on Tuesday
 (New throughout, updates crack spreads, Japan refinery detail,
trading volume)
                                
 By Robert Gibbons
                                
 NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday
after a massive earthquake shook Japan, shutting refineries and
other industrial facilities in the world's third-largest oil
consumer and triggering a broader sell-off in commodities.
                                
 Muted protests in Saudi Arabia contributed to the sell-off
by investors who had been spooked by plans for "day of rage"
demonstrations in the world's top oil exporter. Funds have
bailed out of oil markets for the past several days after
lifting their positions to a record high as of Tuesday.
                                
 U.S. heating oil <HOc1> and gasoline <RBc1> futures held up
better than crude, receiving support from expectations that
Japan will require more fuel imports after the quake and
tsunami affected about a fifth of its capacity.[ID:nN11149346]
                                
 Brent crude futures for April delivery <LCOc1> fell $1.59
to settle at $113.84 a barrel, losing 1.8 percent on the week,
the first loss in seven weeks and biggest since November.
                                
 U.S. crude futures for April delivery <CLc1> fell $1.54 to
settle at $101.16 a barrel, off a low of $99.01. It fell 3.12
percent on the week, its first weekly loss in four. Trading
volume was light, however, at about 670,000 lots, nearly a
third below the average of the past month.
                                
 The U.S. front-month heating oil crack spread <CL-HO=R>, or
refining profit margin, rose $1.21 to $26.39 a barrel at 4:45
p.m. EST (2145 GMT), while the gasoline crack spread <RB-CL=R>
rose 67 cents to $24.79.
                                
 "From an oil pricing perspective, the situation in Japan is
likely to result in a negative impact on crude oil prices and a
positive for refined products," said Dominick Chirichella,
senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York.
                                
 Japan was hit by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake, the largest
since observations began in the late 19th century.
[ID:nL3E7EB29U] [ID:nL3E7EB29U]
                                
 Top Japanese refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp <JXHLY.PK>
halted operations at three plants and fire engulfed a storage
tank at a unit of Cosmo Oil Co <5007.T>.
                                
 <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                
 Factbox on Japan quake tears through commodity, energy
                                
 sectors:                                   [ID:nL3E7EB1UN]
                                
 Graphics showing:
                                
 Middle East unrest          http://r.reuters.com/nym77r
                                
 Libya unrest                http://link.reuters.com/dew48r
                                
 Main Saudi oil region       http://link.reuters.com/gew48r
                                
 FACTBOX on Libya's oil sector              [ID:nLDE7292FC]
                                
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
                                
 MIDDLE EAST PROTESTS
                                
 The Japanese quake triggered across-the-board selling in
commodities as funds who had piled into markets that were at or
near record highs took profits in the face of uncertainty.
                                
 Speculators' net-long positions in U.S. crude futures rose
to a record high in the week to March 8, the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission said in a report on Friday. [ID:nN11183612]
                                
 Traders also pared positions on signs that a security
clampdown in Saudi Arabia's capital kept a lid on a planned
protest, even as demonstrations and unrest continued to rumble
in nearby Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen. [ID:nLDE72A1B5]
[ID:nLDE72A0WK] [ID:nLDE72A0WW] [ID:nLDE72A1L]
                                
 Fighting continued in OPEC-member Libya. Rebels repelled a
counter-offensive by leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces, but
appealed to foreign powers to impose a no-fly zone to stop
further attacks. Most analysts have now written off any chance
of a quick return of Libyan production. [ID:nLDE72A00Z]
                                
 CHINA, U.S. ECONOMIC DATA
                                
 Even with the focus on Japan, the Middle East and North
Africa, brokers and analysts said oil prices felt pressure from
news that Chinese inflation topped expectations in February,
possibly triggering more monetary tightening that could dampen
oil demand in the world's No. 2 oil consumer. [ID:nTOE72A01K]
                                
 Rising gasoline prices pushed U.S. consumer sentiment to
its lowest level in five months in early March, a Thomson
Reuters/University of Michigan survey showed. [ID:nN11275400]
                                
 A separate report showed that U.S. retail sales posted
their largest gain in four months in February. [ID:nN11250325]
 (Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Janet McGurty in New
York, Ikuko Kurahone in London and Alejandro Barbajosa in
Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)