* U.S. heating inventories drop; crude, gasoline rise
* French unions extend refinery strikes
* North Sea output problem supports
(Updates prices)
By Ikuko Kurahone
LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $78 a barrel on
Thursday, supported by a fall in U.S. heating oil inventories
and as the dollar weakened after an unexpected increase in U.S.
jobless claims.
U.S. crude oil futures <CLc1> rose 95 cents , or about 1.2
percent, to $78.28 a barrel by 1632 GMT, after falling to as low
as $76.32 earlier. Brent crude <LCOc1> gained 90 cents to $77.17
a barrel.
Inventories of middle distillates, including heating oil, in
the United States fell 2.9 million barrels last week, a report
from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed.
That was nearly double analysts' forecasts for a 1.5 million
barrel drop ahead of the release of the data. []
Heating oil stocks fell 1.4 million barrels, the EIA data
showed. Data from industry group the American Petroleum
Institute on Wednesday showed an increase
The EIA data showed crude oil and gasoline inventories rose
3.1 million barrels and 1.7 million barrels, respectively, which
were larger than analystss forecast.
"There was a draw in heating oil stocks and it was something
different from the API," Olivier Jakob with Petromatrix said.
New York heating oil futures were trading 1.31 percent
higher, marginally outpacing crude oil.
But the heating-led gain may be short-lived, Jakob said.
A weaker dollar, extended strikes at French refineries and
production problems at a North Sea oilfield also supported oil
prices.
The dollar dipped against the yen and the euro as the number
of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment
insurance unexpectedly surged last week, a government report
showed on Thursday, dealing a setback to hopes the economy was
on the verge of job growth. []
The UK's largest oilfield, Buzzard, has reduced output
sharply due to a technical problem, field operator Nexen Inc
<NXY.TO> said on Thursday, in a glitch oil traders expected to
delay loadings of benchmark North Sea Forties crude in February.
[]
Workers at Total's <TOTF.PA> six French oil refineries
extended their strike action on Thursday, protesting the
potential permanent closure of one of the plants.
They will halt production five other refineries in the next
24 hours, sources told Reuters. []
(Additional reporting by Seng Li Peng in Singapore; Editing
by William Hardy)
