* Weaker dollar, expiring options lift U.S. prices
* Brent oil weakens, front month May crude expires
* U.S. refinery fire adds to supply concerns
* Coming up: CFTC positions data Friday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity, adds volume data)
By Gene Ramos
NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures rose
nearly 1 percent on Thursday, as a weaker dollar offset worries
that surging prices would erode demand.
With no clear end to fighting in Libya that has cut
supplies from the OPEC nation and lifted oil prices to 32-month
highs, the market focused on U.S. economic data and the
dollar.
The dollar fell after U.S. data showed an unexpected rise
in jobless claims and an increase in producer prices in March.
[] For details, see []
"When the (producer prices) and the weekly job claims
number came out, we saw a reversal in the dollar and we saw a
corresponding (rise) in oil prices," said Stephen Schork,
editor of the Schork Report, in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
Futures were also boosted by news that Sunoco Inc <SUN.N>
shut a gasoline-making unit at its 335,000-barrels-per-day
Philadelphia refinery after a small fire. []
On Wednesday, U.S. data showed gasoline stockpiles plunged
7 million barrels last week, the biggest weekly drop in more
than 12 years, raising concerns about supplies ahead of the
summer driving season.
U.S. crude for May delivery <CLc1> gained $1 to settle at
$108.11 a barrel. Upward pressure came in part from options on
the contract, in which concentrations of calls were at a level
above current prices.
In London, ICE May Brent crude <LCOc1> expired, settling at
$122.36 a barrel, down 52 cents.
Brent's premium to U.S. crude narrowed to $14.25 from
$15.77 at the close Wednesday. <CL-LCO1=R>
U.S. crude volume hit 715,000 lots as of 4:25 p.m. EDT
(2025 GMT), 5.5 percent above the 30-day average, with less
than an hour of the day's trading left. Brent crude volume was
nearly 400,000 lots, 17 percent below the 30-day average.
DOLLAR SLIPS, LIBYA NEWS SIDELINED
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose
unexpectedly last week, raising questions about the health of a
labor market recovery. Also, producer prices picked up pace in
March as the disruption caused by Japan's earthquake began to
be felt in the auto industry.
The dollar fell against a basket of currencies after the
data. <.DXY>
"The spike in jobless claims back over 400,000 hit the
dollar, which once again is supporting energy and precious
metal prices. It's a troubling data point from an area that we
thought some progress was being made," said John Kilduff, a
partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.
Libyan rebels begged for more NATO air strikes, saying they
faced a massacre from government artillery barrages on the
besieged city of Misrata. But NATO allies rebuffed French and
British calls to contribute more to the air war in Libya.
[]
Libyan rebels have said they are exporting a minimal amount
of crude from fields, pumping about 100,000 barrels per day,
far less than usual production of 1.6 million bpd.
Elsewhere, the oil market had little reaction to news that
inflation in China accelerated faster than expected in March.
China's first-quarter GDP figures and March consumer price
data are due Friday, and will be scrutinized for signs of
out-of-control growth. That could prompt further monetary
tightening and potentially affect oil demand, analysts said.
(Additional reporting by Matthew Robinson and Robert Gibbons
in New York; Nia Williams in London; and Florence Tan in
Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio and Jeffrey Benkoe)
