UPDATE 8-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: NAHB Sept. housing index, Monday, 10 a.m. EDT
 (Updates Brent price to settlement, updates Wall Street
results, paragraphs 7 and 14)
                                
 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 posted the biggest percentage weekly
loss in five weeks. The slide started earlier in the week after
Enbridge Inc. <ENB.TO> said it would restart 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 $74.92 a barrel.
                                
 ICE Brent for November <LCOc1> fell 27 cents to settle at
$78.21 a barrel. 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's 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 ended higher on
Friday after a choppy trading session as reassuring earnings
from technology bellwether Oracle provided lift, while the
report on consumer sentiment limited gains. [.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 on Friday 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 David Gregorio)