* U.S. crude, gasoline stocks down; imports up - API
* Fed steps in to shore up U.S. economic recovery
* Coming up: U.S. EIA crude, dist, gasoline stocks; 1430
GMT
* For a technical view, click: []
(Adds EIA outlook, China's apparent demand; updates prices)
By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $80 on
Wednesday as a rise in U.S. crude imports and lower refinery
operating rates raised concerns of a stock build in the world's
largest energy consumer.
However, oil prices received some support from steps taken
by the U.S. Federal Reserve to shore up economic recovery,
after bouncing off a one-week low of $79.20 on Tuesday.
U.S. crude had pared losses late after the Fed said it
would would use cash from maturing mortgage bonds it holds to
buy more government debt, knocking the dollar and boosting
equities.
"I think it's positive on the U.S. economy," said Tony
Nunan, a risk manager with Mitsubishi Corp, adding that the
government may have to continue spending to get the economic
recovery back on track.
"Unemployment numbers in the last two months were not so
good. There is a lot of feeling that the economic recovery in
the U.S. has stalled."
U.S. crude for September <CLc1> delivery fell 41 cents to
$79.84 a barrel at 0514 GMT after falling $1.23 to settle at
$80.25 a barrel overnight. Front-month ICE Brent crude <LCOc1>
fell 35 cents to $79.25 a barrel.
U.S. CRUDE IMPORTS UP
Crude imports to the U.S. were up 1.6 million barrels per
day to 10.96 million barrels per day, according to weekly data
from the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group
released on Tuesday.
However, the data also showed U.S. crude inventories
dropping by 2.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 6, versus
analysts expectations for a 1.9 million barrel draw.
"We have to get through this grey zone. We need to have
inventories drawn down more," Nunan said.
U.S. refinery utilization fell 2.5 percentage points to
84.2 percent. Gasoline stocks fell 1.5 million barrels,
compared with forecasts for a 200,000 barrel rise. []
Even though U.S. oil demand is expected to end a
four-year-old decline this year by rising 140,000 barrels per
day (bpd), or 0.7 percent, to 18.910 million bpd, analysts are
sceptical.
"We are not sure that these estimates will hold through the
next few months, though, given recent declines in the weekly
figures and a series of disappointing numbers on the economy,"
Peter Beutel, president of trading advisory Cameron Hanover
said in a note.
"We expect demand in the U.S. to end the year very near
unchanged against 2009."
The U.S. government on Tuesday modestly boosted its
forecast for global oil demand growth this year and next, with
developing countries driving consumption despite a slower
outlook for the U.S. economy. []
In its latest monthly report, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration said it expects the West Texas Intermediate
(WTI) spot price to average $81 per barrel in the fourth
quarter of 2010 and $84 per barrel in 2011 on support from a
gradual reduction in global oil inventories.
In China, an industry association forecast an 11 percent
growth in the country's apparent crude demand this year.
Official data showed refinery output eased in July from a
record in June. [] []
Economic growth in the world's second-largest energy
consumer is slowing slightly, although it still remains robust
as the government steers credit growth back to normal.
[]
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
