* Dollars rise as IMF delays Ireland's loan
* China raises reserves requirements, boosts oil imports
* IEA lifts global oil demand forecast, OPEC more cautious
(Updates with oil falling, OPEC, rising dollar)
By Una Galani and Robert Gibbons
LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Oil reversed earlier gains on
Friday to trade 0.5 percent down after the dollar rose on
renewed European debt woes, and fears about a Chinese rate hike
offset the positive momentum from strong imports data.
"The market just continues to struggle in the high $80s. The
Chinese rise in November imports and exports is supportive but
being offset by the China Central bank raising reserves as well
as the potential for an interest rate hike over the weekend,"
said Tom Bentz, broker at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc in
New York.
China's central bank on Friday increased the amount of money
lenders must keep on reserve for the third time in one month, a
move to mop up excess cash in the economy and rein in inflation.
[]
U.S. crude for January <CLc1> fell by 54 cents to $87.82 a
barrel at 1525 GMT, after being up by around 50 cents earlier on
Friday and having hit a 26-month high of $90.76 on Tuesday. ICE
Brent <LCOc1> lost 47 cents to $90.52.
The dollar index versus a basket of currencies <.DXY> rose
0.25 percent boosted by news that the International Monetary
Fund postponed consideration of a 22.5 billion euro loan for
Ireland due to differences in the Irish parliament
[]
The dollar's strength pushed oil and U.S. stocks down
despite news of a better-than-expected Thomson
Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys []
Imports by China, the world's second-largest crude user,
jumped 22.1 percent last month from a year earlier to 5.09
million barrels per day (bpd), the fourth highest monthly
average on record, data showed on Friday. []
"In terms of the dynamic of China, I believe the data, the
policy and the road map for reform is suggesting further
sustainable strong demand," said Geoff Howie, sales and markets
strategist at MF Global in Singapore. "We are still bullish.
Asia is driving the price higher."
IEA, OPEC VIEWS DIFFER
Two of the world's most influential oil forecasters -- OPEC
and the IEA - gave sharply different outlooks for 2011 on
Friday, as the consumer's watchdog anticipated robust demand and
producer group OPEC said supply was plentiful.
The IEA, an adviser to 28 industrialised countries, said in
a monthly report world oil demand will be higher than expected
next year and until 2015, increasing the need for crude from the
OPEC producer group. []
It lifted its 2011 oil demand growth forecast by 130,000
barrels per day (bpd) to 1.32 million bpd.
The OPEC forecast 2011 global oil demand growth would
increase to 1.18 million barrels per day, only 10,000 bpd more
than predicted in last month's report making the case for no
change in supply policy when it meets on Saturday in Quito.
[]
OPEC said it wanted an improvement in oil market
fundamentals before increasing crude supplies, even if prices go
to $100 a barrel.
"If it goes to $100 due to speculation, OPEC will not move,"
OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said in Quito, Ecuador,
where the group will meet on Saturday. []
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by William Hardy)
