* China bank reserve hike pressures commodities, equities
* Gasoline futures correct after surge, weigh on crude
* Coming up: API oil inventory data on Tuesday
(Recasts, updates with settlement prices, market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices fell on Friday
and logged their biggest weekly percentage decline since August
after China raised bank reserve requirements a second time in
two weeks as the No. 2 oil consumer tries to curb inflation.
The People's Bank of China said that it would increase
banks' required reserves by 50 basis points, a less aggressive
move than the interest rate rise that many had speculated could
occur as soon as this week. []
The expiring U.S. crude contract for December delivery
<CLc1> fell 34 cents to settle at $81.51 a barrel, down 3.97
percent on the week, a second straight weekly decline and the
biggest percentage decline since the week to Aug. 13.
U.S. January crude <CLc2> fell 44 cents to settle at $81.98
a barrel.
Total U.S. crude trading volume was just above half million
lots traded with less than an hour of post-settlement trading
left on Friday. That was 24 percent below the 30-day average.
In London, ICE front-month January Brent crude <LCOc1> fell
71 cents to settle at $84.34 a barrel.
"December crude (found) support above $80 and January
around $81. The bearish news of China's reserve move may have
been already priced in. I don't think anybody's in shock," said
Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.
The premium of ICE Brent to U.S. crude <CL-LCO1=R> rose to
its highest since Sept. 30 on Friday as inventories at the
Cushing, Oklahoma, hub, delivery point for the New York
Mercantile Exchange's light sweet crude contract, increased
last week and as North Sea crude output fell. []
Brent's premium may expand further amid a pickup in
militant action in Nigeria, where Royal Dutch Shell Plc
<RDSa.L> declared force majeure on Bonny Light oil exports
after a pipeline was damaged. []
Attention remained on the prospect that debt-ridden Ireland
will obtain a bailout loan from the European Union and the IMF
to shore up its banks. []
The euro rose broadly on Friday, gaining a third straight
day versus the dollar, as investors grew more confident that
Ireland's debt crisis would be resolved. []
The dollar index <.DXY> weakened slightly and the weak
dollar and the Nigeria force majeure were cited by analysts as
helping limit oil's losses.
U.S. GASOLINE PULLS BACK
U.S. gasoline futures prices <RBc1> also fell on Friday,
helping pressure the oil complex after jumping more than 3
percent on Thursday.
Traders and analysts said the buying seen on Thursday due
to a perceived tight supply situation in the New York Harbor,
delivery point for the NYMEX gasoline contract, has subsided.
Gasoline futures were lifted by the unexpectedly large drop
in gasoline stocks reported by the government on Wednesday
[], adding to concerns about supply in the New York Harbor
Gasoline prices may also be fueled by an expected pickup in
demand. In a report on Friday, industry group the American
Petroleum Institute said that U.S. demand for crude oil and
petroleum products rose 1.3 percent in October from a year ago,
as economic recovery prompted higher fuel consumption.
[]
Late on Friday, after oil's price settlements, the
government reported that money managers cut net long crude oil
positions on the NYMEX in the week to Nov. 16, from record high
levels the previous period.
Money managers slightly reduced their net long positions in
heating oil while raising them for gasoline, according to the
report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Zaida Espana
and Isabel Coles in London and Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo)
