* Enbridge Canada-U.S. pipeline expected to restart Friday
* Survey says U.S. consumer sentiment lower
* Coming up: CFTC positions data at 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity, changes byline and
moves dateline from previous LONDON)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Oil fell a fourth session, to
below $74 a barrel on Friday after U.S. consumer confidence
data showed a surprise slip and investors anticipated the
reopening of a major crude pipeline into the United States.
U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly worsened in early
September to its weakest level in more than a year, as distress
over jobs and finances intensified among upper-income families,
a survey showed. []
The oil market has spent much of the year in lock-step with
equities and U.S. stocks seesawed as the report on consumer
sentiment weighed on Wall Street. []
The dollar rallied against the euro and the yen as the U.S.
consumer data eased risk appetite, and currency markets braced
for possible intervention by the Bank of Japan. []
U.S. crude for October <CLc1> delivery fell $1.19, or 1.6
percent, to $73.38 per barrel at 12:08 p.m. EDT (1608 GMT),
trading from $73.16 to $75.25. The October contract expires on
Tuesday.
U.S. November crude <CLX0> fell $1.11, or 1.47 percent, to
$74.63 a barrel. ICE Brent for November <LCOc1> fell $1.04 to
$77.44. October Brent expired on Wednesday.
"This major oil pipeline will be back in operation today,"
Carsten Fritsch at Commerzbank said. "We expect oil prices to
come under pressure in the coming days."
Enbridge Inc <ENB.TO> has completed repairs and received
regulatory approval to restart the pipeline, which carries up
to a third of Canada's U.S.-bound crude shipments.
[]
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Take a Look-Enbridge crude line to reopen []
For a map: http://link.reuters.com/mes92p
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U.S. crude prices have traded range bound this year but
spiked to a one-month high after last week's closure of
Enbridge Line 6A that brings Canadian crude to U.S. Midwest
refineries and the crucial Cushing, Oklahoma, oil hub.
Line 6A is the main artery of Enbridge's Lakehead Pipeline
System.
Oil prices fell despite the potential impact from Hurricane
Karl as the storm closed in for a second hit on the Mexican
coast. State-run oil giant Pemex evacuated platforms and halted
production at 14 minor wells, the company said in a statement
that did not detail how those measures would disrupt
production. []
"It could have some impact on oil production and it will
have some impact on oil exports out of Mexico and therefore it
will show in next week's (inventory) statistics for the U.S.,"
Christophe Barret, an oil analyst at Credit Agricole said.
Investors shrugged off a report from investment bank
Goldman Sachs that said commodities, like oil, which follow a
cyclical trend have upside potential. []
"We believe that near-to-medium term fundamentals remain
most constructive for crude oil, copper, platinum and corn,
with short-term risk/reward looking the best for crude oil,"
Goldman said in a research note.
With OPEC set to meet Oct. 14 to consider member production
levels and market share, Russian Prime Minister Vladimer Putin
on Friday said his country, the world's biggest oil producer,
will work more closely with the producer group.
[]
Putin did not specify how Russia would collaborate or
whether it planned to attend OPEC's meeting. OPEC ministers
have voiced exasperation with Russia as it pumps at full
capacity, while leaving the work of supporting oil prices by
reducing output to OPEC members.
(Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian in London and
Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)
