* Tropical storm possibility boosts oil futures
* U.S. Q1 economic growth revised down
* Coming Up: Group of 20 meeting at the weekend
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity; new bylines, moves
dateline from previous LONDON)
By Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - Oil surged more than 2
percent on Friday on concerns that a tropical disturbance in
the Caribbean Sea may develop into a storm and threaten Gulf of
Mexico production.
At 12:58 p.m. EDT (1658 GMT), U.S. crude futures <CLc1>
were up $2.12, or 2.7 percent, at $78.63 a barrel, having
traded as high as $78.92, which matched Monday's intraday high.
Crude had bounced from a session low of $75.90.
ICE Brent crude futures <LCOc1> were up $1.52, or 1.99
percent, at $77.99, off a $78.32 high.
Trading sources said buy stop orders were triggered when
crude moved back toward $79 and that U.S. gasoline futures also
rose sharply.
Crude futures trading volume on the New York Mercantile
Exchange from 11:50 to 11:55 a.m. EDT (1550-1555 GMT), when
crude oil prices moved sharply higher, increased more than four
times from the previous five-minute period, according to
Reuters data.
"RBOB (gasoline futures) strength could be a jump start to
the usual pre-July 4th buying," said Michael Guido, associate
director/hedge fund coverage at Macquarie Bank in New York.
"If this storm does become a threat, then the usual
pre-holiday buy programs for gasoline will become much more
expensive, hence the prompting people to act today, with shorts
getting caught up in the mix," Guido added.
U.S. July gasoline futures were up 6.05 cents at $2.1540 a
gallon.
A low-pressure area over the western Caribbean Sea now has
a high 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical
depression over the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane
Center said on Friday. []
Some weather models project the system will cross Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula over the next few days before entering the
central Gulf of Mexico, threatening BP Plc <BP.L> efforts to
clean up its oil spill.
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For graphics U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore crude output:
http://link.reuters.com/bax24m
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"The greatest risk will be with the potential development
of a tropical storm that could make its way to the Gulf of
Mexico," said Olivier Jakob with Petrometrix.
U.S. crude oil and product inventories remain much higher
than year-ago levels. [] The high inventory levels might
cushion any price spikes that might result from weather-related
supply disruptions. Prices jumped when hurricanes Katrina and
Rita hit the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in 2005.
Support for crude also came from the weakening of the
dollar index <.DXY>, measuring the greenback's strength against
a basket of currencies and the euro's <EUR=> recovery against
the dollar after midday in New York.
U.S. consumer sentiment rose in June to its highest since
January 2008, while reports of job losses were down sharply
from a year ago, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of
Michigan's Surveys of Consumers. []
Earlier in the session, crude oil's gains were tempered by
data showing slower-than-expected economic first-quarter growth
in the United States and worries about the fragility of global
recovery ahead of a weekend summit of Group of 20 nations.
U.S crude oil is expected to average $79.86 a barrel in
2010, a Reuters poll showed, a slight drop from May's survey
and the second consecutive lower monthly forecast after more
than a year of rising expectations. []
Front-month U.S. crude futures' $64.24 intraday low on May
20 was the weakest front-month price since $62.76 was struck on
July 30, 2009. Prices recovered to a 2010 peak of $87.15 on May
3, but fell back.
(Additional reporting by Rebekah Kebede in New York, Ikuko
Kurahone in London, Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing
by David Gregorio)
