* Expected U.S. fuel stocks rise curbs oil
* U.S. consumer confidence drops to lowest since Feb
* Dollar slump supports oil prices
* Coming up: EIA oil data at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity to settlement)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices slipped on
Tuesday in choppy trading as an anticipated fuel stocks rise
and weak demand data countered a lift from the dollar's slump
after a consumer confidence drop fed expectations the Federal
Reserve will print money to buy assets.
U.S. oil prices were hemmed inside Monday's trading range
ahead of weekly inventory reports, with persistent high oil
stockpiles and analyst expectations that refined fuel stocks
rose again last week weighing on prices.
MasterCard reported that U.S weekly retail gasoline demand
fell versus the previous week and was lower against the
year-ago period, also helping to pull oil back.
[]
Oil had staged an intraday rally on lift from the broadly
weaker dollar, which fell when a report from the Conference
Board showed U.S. consumer confidence fell in September to its
lowest level since February. [] []
U.S. crude for November <CLc1> delivery fell 34 cents, or
0.44 percent, to settle at $76.18 per barrel, having traded
from $75.53 to $77.12 and remaining inside Monday's trading
range of $75.52 to $77.17.
ICE Brent November crude <LCOc1> managed to finish up 14
cents, or 0.18 percent, at $78.71 a barrel.
With U.S. crude oil and refined fuel stocks above year-ago
levels, fuel stocks were expected to have risen slightly last
week, while crude stocks were forecast to be only slightly
lower. []
Total distillate stocks were expected to have risen 400,000
barrels in the week to Sept. 24, with gasoline stocks up
500,000 barrels, a Reuters analyst survey on Tuesday showed.
Crude oil stockpiles were forecast to have fallen only
300,000 barrels on lower imports as seasonal refinery
maintenance slowed demand.
"While we look for the (inventory) numbers to prompt a
price sell-off, sustaining any price weakness could prove
problematic if the equities remain strong and the dollar
remains weak," Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch &
Assoc. in Galena, Illinois, said in a note.
HIGH U.S. OIL INVENTORIES
Bulging crude stocks at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, hub,
delivery point for U.S. West Texas Intermediate benchmark
crude, have helped put European benchmark Brent at an atypical
premium to U.S. crude futures <CL-LCO1=R>, still well above $2
a barrel.
The high inventories at Cushing have also helped keep
front-month U.S. crude futures priced more than a dollar less
than the next futures contract further out <CL-1=R>.
Industry inventory statistics from the American Petroleum
Institute are due on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT),
followed by government data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration on Wednesday.
"We are still convinced that with ample supply and high
inventories, there is more risk that prices will go down rather
than come back up," said Barbara Lambrecht, analyst at
Commerzbank.
The Dow <> and the S&P 500 edged up as corporate deal
news and earnings expectations fueled investor optimism even
though Wall Street slipped earlier on weak consumer confidence
and housing sector data. []
Gold hit a record high as the consumer confidence reading
boosted the metal's safe haven appeal [] and intraday the
Reuters-Jefferies CRB index <.CRB>, a global commodities
benchmark, hit an 8-1/2 month peak. []
Oil investors kept watching any possible weather threat to
supplies as Tropical Depression 16 neared tropical storm
strength in the Caribbean Sea. But it was expected to drift
northeast and away from the Gulf of Mexico oil infrastructure.
[]
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Alex Lawler
in London and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by
David Gregorio)
