UPDATE 14-Oil steadies as Japan fuel needs, Mideast support

                                
 * Saudi troops enter Bahrain to support Sunni government
                                
 * Japan fuel needs after quake support distillate futures
                                
 * Coming up: API oil data at 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday
 (Recasts, updates with additional detail)
                                
 By Robert Gibbons
                                
 NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) - Crude oil prices were little
changed on Monday in volatile trading, as Middle East unrest
and distillate futures lifted by expectations quake-ravaged
Japan will import fuel to cover for shut refineries offset
concerns about slowed economic activity.
                                
 News that Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to help
respond to protests by the Sunni ruling family's Shi'ite Muslim
majority opponents helped pull oil off early lows.
                                
 Also supportive were strong distillate futures that were
lifted by expectations that Japan will need to import fuel to
cover lost refining and nuclear power generation capacity.
                                
 Global markets came under pressure earlier due to the
catastrophe in Japan as oil demand in the world No. 3 energy
consumer was expected to fall in the short- to medium-term as
economic activity stalls and a third of its refining capacity
was shut following the quake.
                                
 Brent crude futures for April delivery <LCOc1> fell 17
cents to settle at $113.67 a barrel, bouncing after sliding to
$111.16, lowest since Feb. 25.
                                
 U.S. crude futures for April delivery <CLc1> rose 3 cents
to settle at $101.19 a barrel, recovering from $98.47, the
lowest intraday price since March 1.
                                
 Total U.S. crude volume was at 510,922 with 20 minutes
remaining in post-settlement trading, on track to be the lowest
volume since the first trading day of the year.
                                
 Low trading volume often suggests reluctance to sell,
according to analysts and brokers.
                                
 "Japan's demand is expected to be way down in the near- to
medium-term. But Saudi troops in Bahrain and fighting in Yemen
and Libya bounced crude off their lows," said Phil Flynn,
analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.
                                
 MIDDLE EAST UNREST
                                
 About 1,000 Saudi soldiers entered Bahrain, according to a
Saudi official source. Opponents of the Sunni ruling family in
Bahrain called the move a declaration of war. [ID:nLDE72D0KH]
                                
 The United States does not consider the Saudi entry into
Bahrain an invasion, the White House said. [ID:nN14166103]
                                
 Scattered clashes broke out across Saudi neighbor Yemen, as
military forces were deployed to check nationwide protests
demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
[ID:nLDE72D1IR]
                                
 Muammar Gaddafi's troops made advances in their
counter-offensive against rebel fighters and were outpacing
diplomatic efforts to impose a no-fly zone. [ID:nLDE72D26K]
                                
 Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) has called on
employees to return to work is hopeful oil production can soon
increase, the head of NOC told Reuters. [ID:nLDE72D16W]
                                
 More than half of Libya's 1.6 million barrels per day oil
output is believed to have been shut in because of the Libyan
uprising.
                                
 JAPAN'S EMERGENCY FUEL NEEDS
                                
 U.S. heating oil <HOc1>, ICE gas oil and natural gas
futures rose on expectations Japan will increase fuel imports
to cover lost oil refining and nuclear power generation
capacity. <NEWOILOIL> <NGc1> [ID:nL3E7EE025]
                                
 Heating oil futures rose more than 1 percent, "largely on
expectations that Japan will be requiring a substantial amount
of distillate or fuel oil to replace lost refinery production
and to provide feedstock for electricity generation," Jim
Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a
note.
                                
 U.S. Gulf Coast jet fuel and ultra-low sulfur diesel
differentials to the benchmark heating oil futures contract
rose more than a penny per gallon on the expected boost of
exports to Japan. [ID:nN14154284]
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  Factbox on Japan quake tears through commodity, energy
  sectors:                                   [ID:nL3E7EB1UN]
  SPECIAL REPORT-Can Japan find "New Deal?" [ID:nL3E7ED0FC]
  Quake to hit Japan economy, lift debt     [ID:nN12187648]
  Nuclear incident scale:       http://r.reuters.com/cag58r
  Map of reactors:              http://r.reuters.com/dyf58r
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
                                
 JAPAN'S NUCLEAR WOES
                                
 Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear
plant after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of
fuel rods at another only days after a devastating earthquake
and tsunami. [ID:nL3E7EE2KY]
                                
 Nuclear fuel rods at one of the quake-stricken units were
exposed for a second time, local media said, quoting the
plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co <9501.T>, increasing
the risk of a meltdown and a higher level of radiation leak.
[ID:nTKG007089]
 (Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Ikuko
Kurahone in London and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)