* Dollar falls on QE2 expectations, bolstering oil
* China raises bank reserve requirements
* Iran increases official reserves figure
* Coming Up: OPEC meeting October 14
(Adds European comment, Iranian reserves and Chinese
initiative on banks, updates prices)
By David Turner
LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Oil rose for a second straight
session on Monday, boosted by the dollar's continuing fall
against a range of currencies, which outweighed the news that
China had tightened its monetary policy.
Weakness in the greenback boosts the dollar value of oil,
which is usually traded in the U.S. currency. <.DXY>
Traders said the prospect of further U.S. quantitative
easing (QE2) was applying upward pressure to oil prices, by
putting the dollar under downward pressure.
Oil was "in a kind of win-win situation", where weak
economic data supported prices by increasing expectations of
QE2, but strong economic data boosted oil by bolstering
expectations of economic growth, said Carsten Frisch,
commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Fritsch said: "(QE2) is the reason why the poor U.S. jobs
data on Friday didn't do any harm to commodity prices."
China, the world's largest energy user according to the
International Energy Agency, has tightened monetary policy by
raising the required reserves of big banks, sources told Reuters
on Monday. []
However, reacting to the news, Amrita Sen, commodities
analyst at Barclays Capital in London, said: "Given how energy
intensive the Chinese economy is, even with some soft landing we
do not expect this to change."
U.S. crude for November <CLc1> was 12 cents up on the day
at $82.78 a barrel at 1035 GMT. Prices touched a five-month
intra-day high of $84.43 last week. ICE Brent <LCOc1> gained
eight cents to $84.11.
Weak U.S. jobs data on Friday firmed expectations for
further monetary stimulus to boost the struggling economy, as
world financial leaders over the weekend sought to defuse
mounting tensions over currencies. []
The market will seek further clues to developments in the
U.S. economy from the release of the minutes for the last Fed
meeting on Tuesday, China trade data on Wednesday, and U.S.
retail sales for September on Friday.
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see: http://link.reuters.com/kew48n
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IRAN BOOSTS RESERVES FIGURE
OPEC member Iran increased its official reserves estimate by
18 billion barrels to 150 billion barrels on Monday, ahead of
Thursday's OPEC meeting in Vienna. []
The move followed the decision a week ago by Iraq, a fellow
member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries,
to raise its reserves figure to 143 billion barrels.
[]
However, Olivier Jakob of consultants Petromatrix in Zug,
Switzerland, was sceptical that Iran's news would have much
effect on oil prices, saying: "Everything out of Iran is taken
with a pinch of salt. It was a little bit of a reaction to the
Iraqi announcement."
OPEC is unlikely to change oil output targets at this week's
meeting, delegates told Reuters on Sunday, while Qatar said
current oil prices posed no harm to the world economy.
[]
Oil has stayed in a price range of $70 to $80 a barrel for
most of this year -- judged by OPEC to be high enough for
producers who need to invest and low enough not to damage the
world's economy.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's top crude exporter, will supply full
contracted volumes of crude oil in November to at least five
term buyers in northeast Asia, steady with October levels,
traders with the refiners said on Monday. []
Total's <TOTF.PA> La Mede oil refinery in the south of
France was partially shut on Sunday as Marseille port workers
continued their strike. Total said the lack of crude oil had
also started to affect its 117,000 barrels per day Feyzin
refinery in the Lyon region. [] The strike
continued into its 15th day on Monday. []
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by James Jukwey)
