(Updates prices; adds Brent and Texas City refinery's
shutdown)
By Felicia Loo
SINGAPORE, April 25 (Reuters) - Oil retreated to below $116
a barrel on Friday, as a stronger dollar extended a sell-off
and investors shifted cash to equities, but concerns over
supply constraints limited losses.
U.S. light crude for June delivery <CLc1> dipped 11 cents
to $115.95 a barrel by 0639 GMT, furthering a loss of $2.24 a
barrel on Thursday in New York.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> dropped 24 cents to $114.10 a
barrel.
Prices weakened 3.6 percent from a record-high $119.90 a
barrel touched on Tuesday. A sliding dollar had devalued U.S.
financial assets then, prompting funds to move into oil and
commodities.
"The risks of an economic slowdown in the European Union
caused the selling of the euro against the dollar," said Tetsu
Emori, fund manager at Astmax Co Ltd in Tokyo.
The dollar steadied against the euro and the yen on Friday,
holding firm after data the previous day showed signs of
resilience in the U.S. labour market.
The euro stayed away from its record high of $1.6020 hit on
Tuesday, undermined by weak economic growth data in Germany and
France -- the euro zone's two biggest markets. The euro was
seen at $1.5676 <EUR=>.
European Central Bank policymaker comments on excessive
volatility in currency exchange rates added fuel to fire,
triggering a sell-off in the single European currency.
Oil and other dollar-denominated commodities came under
pressure after data showed U.S. jobless claims down sharply
last week, boosting the dollar by more than 1 percent against a
basket of major currencies. <=USD>
Gold, copper, and agricultural products also fell as the
dollar gained.
Prices retreated as the market projected a rise in gasoline
output from refineries in the United States, the world's No. 1
energy user, to meet peak driving demand.
U.S. government data on Wednesday showed refinery
utilization rates jumped by 4.2 percentage points to 85.6
percent of capacity.
But the summer driving season, starting from late May, may
not see robust demand compared with the past years due to an
overall, weaker U.S. economy.
Regular maintenance at BP's Texas City refinery helped
moderate oil's pullback, along with production disruptions in
Nigeria, while a planned two-day strike at a Scottish refinery
that could affect 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of North Sea
crude supplies also supported oil.
BP <BP.L> is closing the 62,000 bpd gasoline-producing unit
at its 460,000 bpd Texas City refinery for a turnaround.
[]
Talks to resolve a pension dispute at the 200,000 bpd
Grangemouth refinery collapsed late on Wednesday, and union
officials said the work stoppage will proceed on Sunday.
The refinery has been closing gradually over the last week
and its power station, which also supplies BP's nearby Kinneil
Forties crude oil processing plant, is due to shut on Saturday.
Rebel attacks have shut 169,000 bpd of Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L> in Nigeria.
In Libya, 45,000 bpd of Libyan offshore oil production had
been halted due to a technical problem and could be offline for
a few weeks.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
