UPDATE 5-Oil up on economic hopes, gasoline rally

                                
 * Outage at Hovensa refinery lifts gasoline
                                
 * Cold weather in Europe, U.S. supports
                                
 * Euro falls versus dollar on Irish uncertainty
                                
 * Eyes on possible Chinese rate rise, OPEC meeting
                                
 * Two major report shows oil stocks build in Europe
 (Recasts, updates prices, market activity; changes by-lines,
dateline, previously LONDON)
                                
 By Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons
                                
 NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) Oil prices rose on Thursday,
stemming two days of losses, as falling claims for U.S. jobless
benefits fed hopes about the economy, while crude also got a
lift as gasoline futures jumped on news of a refinery outage.
                                
 U.S. gasoline futures led the day's gainers in the energy
complex, regaining their footing after falling on Wednesday on
data showing gasoline stocks rose sharply last week.
                                
 Cash market gasoline prices in the New York Harbor rose due
to a snag at a gasoline-making unit at the giant 500,000
barrels per day Hovensa LLC refinery in St. Croix in the U.S.
Virgin Islands, according to traders. The refinery delivers
supplies to the harbor.[ID:nWENA432]
                                
 By 1:20 p.m. EST (1820 MT), U.S. crude for January delivery
<CLF1> rose 65 cents to $88.93 a barrel. On Tuesday U.S. crude
surged to a 26-month high of $90.76.
                                
 U.S. January gasoline <RBF1> jumped 5.19 cents, to $2.3565
a gallon.
                                
 In London, ICE January Brent crude <LCOF1> gained 70 cents
to $91.472.
                                
 U.S. data showed the number of first-time claims for
jobless benefits fell more than expected last week and the
four-week average dropped to a two-year low, renewing hopes  
for a labor market recovery. [ID:nN09222654]
                                
 Crude got a boost as the dollar extended losses against the
yen and pared gains against the euro as yields on U.S.
Treasuries fell after a well-bid 30=year bond auction.
[ID:nN09248975]
                                
 "The better-than-expected turnout of the auction pulled the
dollar down," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in
Chicago.
                                
 But the euro was down against the greenback on renewed
worries about Ireland's fiscal troubles.The euro fell after an
Irish political party said it would vote against an emergency
European Union bailout for the country. [ID:nN03447950]
                                
 OPEC MEETING, POTENTIAL CHINA RATE RISE
                                
 Oil investors watched for any signs of deviation from
expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Countries would
keep production policy unchanged at a weekened meeting.
                                
 OPEC was unlikely to raise oil supply targets to cap an oil
price rally when it meets in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito,
but could hint at the possibility of higher production later.
                                
 "The question is if the oil prices rise well above $90 will
they (OPEC) say something about it. Saudi Arabia recently said
prices up to $90 are comfortable but not above $90," said
Commerzbank's analyst Carsten Fritsch.
                                
 On the negative side, supplies of European oil products
mostly rose in November as refinery utilization jumped 8
percentage points, Euroilstock data showed. [ID:nWLA0423]
                                
 Gas oil stocks held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp oil
hub rose by 3 percent last week despite a cold snap blanketing
western Europe, a report from Dutch oil analyst Pieter Kulsen
also showed. [ID:nLDE6B81SJ]
(Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Una Galani in
London; and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by David
Gregorio)