UPDATE 7-Oil drops 4th day on consumer sentiment slide

                                
 * U.S. consumer sentiment drops to weakest since Aug 2009
                                
 * Enbridge Canada-U.S. pipeline restarted Friday morning
                                
 * Coming up: CFTC positions data at 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday
                                
(Recasts, updates with U.S. settlement prices, market
activity)
                                
 By Robert Gibbons
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell a
fourth straight session on Friday after U.S. consumer sentiment
data showed a surprise drop to the weakest level in more than a
year.
                                
 U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly worsened to its
weakest level since August 2009, as distress over jobs and
finances intensified among upper-income families, the Thomson
Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary September reading
showed. [ID:nN17137976]
                                
 U.S. crude futures ended with its worst percentage weekly
loss in five weeks after being pummeled earlier in the week by
the expected restart of a major crude pipeline from Canada into
the United States.
                                
 U.S. crude for October <CLc1> delivery fell 91 cents, or
1.22 percent, to settle at $73.66 per barrel, trading from
$72.75 to $75.25. The October contract expires on Tuesday.
                                
 For the week, front-month U.S. crude prices fell $2.79, or
3.65 percent.
                                
 U.S. November crude <CLX0> fell 82 cents, or 1.08 percent,
to settle at $74.63 a barrel.
                                
 ICE Brent for November <LCOc1> fell 37 cents to $78.11 at
2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT). October Brent expired on Wednesday.
                                
 "The consumer sentiment report came out and the dollar
strengthened, piling on after the expectation that Enbridge
would restart its pipeline had already taken the steam out of
front-month crude earlier in the week," Chris Dillman, analyst,
Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
                                
 The dollar rallied against the euro and the yen as European
debt concerns and the weak U.S. consumer data eased risk
appetite. [USD/]
                                
 A stronger dollar can pressure oil prices because it makes
dollar-denominated oil more expensive for buyers using other
currencies, increases the value of the currency being paid
producers and cause investors to move money from commodities to
foreign exchange markets, chasing better returns.
                                
 U.S. regulators and the company confirmed on Friday the
restart of Enbridge Inc's <ENB.TO> Line 6A pipeline, which
carries up to a third of Canada's U.S.-bound crude oil
shipments. [ID:nN17173601]
                                
 <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                
 Take a Look-Enbridge crude line to reopen [ID:nN10265810]
                                
 For a map: http://link.reuters.com/mes92p   
                                
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
                                
 U.S. crude prices have been range bound much of this year
but spiked to a one-month high after last week's closure of the
Line 6A pipeline that brings Canadian crude to U.S. Midwest
refineries and the key Cushing, Oklahoma, oil hub.
                                
 A longer pipeline shutdown could have started to drain U.S.
stockpiles that remain well above year-ago levels, according to
the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Stocks stood at 357
million barrels in the week to Sept. 10, 24.6 million above the
same week in 2009. [EIA/S]
                                
 Though the oil market has spent much of the year in
lock-step with U.S. equities, stock markets were little changed
in choppy trading as the report on consumer sentiment weighed
on Wall Street, while solid earnings from technology
bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion provided support.
[.N]
                                
 Also easing concerns about supply disruptions, Hurricane
Karl hit Mexico's central Gulf Coast on Friday, but it appeared
to have spared Mexican offshore oil operations from major
damage. [ID:nN17205611]
                                
 Oil prices seemed to receive little support from a report
by investment bank Goldman Sachs that said commodities, like
oil, which follow a cyclical trend, have upside potential.
[ID:nLDE68G0IB]
                                
 "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.
                                
 For more cyclical commodities, there have been
strengthening economic data and hints of tightening
fundamentals and Goldman said it continued to expect them "to
break out to the upside in coming months."
 (Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Marie-Louise
Gumuchian in London and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)