UPDATE 4-Brent oil hits 27-month high at $98 on disruption

                                
 * Brent supported by potential increase in U.S. import needs
                                
 * U.S. crude also rallies, wide discount to Brent persists
                                
 * Coming Up: U.S. EIA weekly oil inventory report; 1530 GMT

                                
 (Updates prices)
                                
 By Alex Lawler
                                
 LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil rose to $98 a
barrel on Wednesday for the first time in 27 months as
production shutdowns and growing global demand raised
expectations of tighter supplies.
                                
 A gas leak forced two Norwegian oilfields to be shut down
briefly. The Trans Alaska Pipeline, which ships about 12 percent
of U.S. crude output, was shut on Saturday because of a leak,
although it has been allowed to resume "limited operations".
                                
 Brent crude for February <LCOc1> rose as much as 85 cents to
$98.46, the highest price in 27 months, and was up 7 cents at
$97.68 at 1032 GMT. U.S. crude <CLc1> added 5 cents to $91.16.
                                
 "Worsening sentiment is the only thing that could derail the
price rally at the moment," said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at
Commerzbank, who said $100 oil looked imminent. "It seems only a
matter of time if sentiment remains positive and more
disruptions on the supply side come in."
                                
 U.S. crude traded more than $7 below Brent on Tuesday, the
widest spread since February 2009, because of high inventories
at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point <CL-LCO1=R> and tighter
supply of Brent-related crudes.
                                
 Trans Alaska Pipeline operator Alyeska on Tuesday received
government permission to restart the line to prevent crude from
freezing, a company spokeswoman said, adding flows would resume
through the night.
                                
 An outage lasting more than a week may force oil refineries
on the U.S. West Coast to look for alternatives in Russia and
the Middle East, traders and analysts said.
                                
 Officials said the line will `ave to be shut down again in
coming days to put a bypass over the leaking section in place.
[ID:nL3E7CC0E2]
                                
 
                                
 RISING DEMAND, OPEC RESTRAINT
                                
 Oil also gained support from forecasts for higher heating
demand this week as the U.S. Northeast, the world's biggest
heating oil market, prepared for another snowstorm. [ID:nN1313]
[ID:nSGE709069]
                                
 Global oil demand this year is forecast to reach a record
88.6 million barrels per day (bpd), following much faster demand
growth last year than most analysts expected. [O/POLL]
                                
 At the same time, the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries is sticking to a production-restraining 
output policy it agreed to more than two years ago, when
recession hit demand and prices.
                                
 Attention will focus later on Wednesday on the latest
snapshot of supplies in the United States, which remains the
world's largest oil consumer ahead of fast-growing China.
                                
 The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration will
release its oil inventories report at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).
                                
 A Reuters survey forecast U.S. crude oil inventories
probably fell 1.1 million barrels last week. [EIA/S]
                                
 According to a report from industry group the American
Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, crude oil stockpiles managed a
57,000-barrel gain last week. [API/S]
 (Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa and Alex Lawler; Editing by
Sue Thomas)