* N. Africa, Middle East unrest remain supportive to oil
* Another China rate hike briefly sent Brent lower
* Coming up: API oil data, 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday
(Updates with settlement prices, market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Brent crude jumped to a 2-1/2
year peak above $122 a barrel on Tuesday, gaining for a fourth
straight day as conflict and unrest in Africa and the Middle
East more than offset China's latest interest rate hike.
U.S. crude futures slipped in choppy trading ahead of
weekly inventory reports, hemmed in by the prospect that the
reports, starting with industry data due late in the day, will
show crude stocks rose again last week and more supply arrived
at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub.
Oil and copper slumped early on the threat to demand from
another Chinese interest rate hike, the fourth since October.
China's move, designed to rein in inflation, also pressured
Wall Street, which rose for most of the session before easing
to near flat in late choppy trading.
Brent crude's premium to U.S. benchmark West Texas
Intermediate crude <CL-LCO1=R> increased to more than $14
intraday for the first time since March 3 after it had reached
a record $17.12 a barrel on March 1.
Brent crude for May <LCOc1> rose $1.16 to settle at $122.22
a barrel after reaching $122.89, the highest front-month price
since August 2008.
U.S. May crude <CLc1> fell 13 cents to settle at $108.34,
unable to reach Monday's $108.78 intraday peak, which was the
highest since September 2008.
"WTI is sputtering a bit ahead of inventory data. But Brent
continues to march higher on Middle East/Africa supply outages
and concerns," said Tom Bentz, a broker at BNP Paribas
Commodities Futures Inc in New York.
Trading volumes remained well below 30-day and 250-day
averages, and total Brent crude volumes were above those for
U.S. crude in post-settlement trading on Tuesday.
"This rally is suspect because of the low volumes. There is
an old saying that one should avoid being long a thin rally,"
said Michael Fitzpatrick, editor of the Energy Overview
industry newsletter of the Kilduff Group in New York.
Trading volumes for U.S. crude posted their lowest weekly
totals for the year in the past two weeks.
LIBYA, MIDDLE EAST, SUPPLY CONCERNS
The back-and-forth fight for control of the Libyan oil town
of Brega reinforced the prospect that a stalemate will prolong
the loss of the country's 1.3 million barrels per day of
exports. For details, see []
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FACTBOX on Libya's oil production: []
More on Middle East unrest: []
Libya Graphics http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
Interactive graphic http://link.reuters.com/puk87r
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
"The geopolitical problems are closer to Europe and
Nigeria's election delay and Forties cargoes delays are all
hitting sweet crude supply," said Andrew Lebow, broker at MF
Global in New York.
Brent prices were lifted on Monday by news of delays for
several April cargoes of Forties crude -- which typically sets
the level of dated Brent benchmark -- due to a brief drop in
North Sea Buzzard oilfield production last week.
[]
Worry that Chinese demand would be limited by efforts at
curbing inflation could not offset the Libyan conflict and
unrest in Saudi Arabia's neighbor Yemen as well as anger in
Nigeria over delayed elections. [] and
[]
Ahead of weekly U.S. oil inventory reports from industry
and government, an expanded analyst survey on Tuesday expected
crude stocks to have risen 1.7 million barrels last week.
[]
Gasoline stocks were expected to be lower by 1.9 million
barrels and distillates were seen posting a small
200,000-barrel decline. []
The inventory report from the American Petroleum Institute,
an industry group, is due at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) Tuesday,
followed by the report from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration Wednesday morning.
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Jessica
Donati in London and Seng Li Peng and Simon Webb in Singapore;
Editing by Alden Bentley, David Gregorio and Jeffrey Benkoe)
