* Dollar slips against basket of currencies
* Brent regains premium to U.S. crude on N.Sea field work
* U.S. oil data expected to show crude stock drop
* Coming Up: US API weekly inventory report, 4:30 p.m. EDT
(Updates prices at settlement, adds trading volume)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for a fourth
day on Tuesday, setting a fresh three-month highs above $82 per
barrel as the dollar fell and dealers anticipated a decline in
U.S. crude oil inventories after last week's big build.
Weekly crude oil stocks probably fell by 1.4 million
barrels last week as imports slipped and after Gulf of Mexico
production was interrupted briefly by Tropical Storm Bonnie, a
Reuters survey showed. [] American Petroleum Institute
inventory data is due at 4.30 p.m. EDT.
U.S. September crude futures rose $1.21 to settle at
$82.55. The last time U.S. crude traded above $82 was on May 5.
In London, ICE Brent rose $1.86 to $82.68. Volume was light,
with U.S. NYMEX futures trading just over 475,000 lots, below
the 30-day average of around 535,000 lots.
"U.S. inventory data is likely to be supportive as a big
decline in U.S. crude oil stocks is on the cards," said Carsten
Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank.
North Sea Brent crude oil futures rose above U.S. crude for
the first time since mid June as planned summer maintenance
reduced supplies from British and Norwegian oil fields. The
Forties North Sea crude blend, which tends to set the price of
dated Brent, drew no offers or bids on Tuesday for the first
time in months due to tight supplies, traders said.
Investors also focused on the dollar this week following a
paper last week from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard
talking up the risk of deflation. The dollar tumbled to
multimonth lows against the euro on Tuesday on fears economic
recovery in Europe and Asia will outpace the U.S.
"Crude was up on the weak dollar and Brent was higher on
maintenance, helping lead the complex higher," said Andrew
Lebow, broker at MF Global in New York.
U.S. crude futures have convincingly broken out and above
the $70-$80 a barrel trading range this week, which it had been
stuck in for most of the past three months.
Oil largely shrugged off downbeat economic data showing
that U.S. consumer spending and incomes were flat in June and
the index for pending sales of previously owned homes fell to a
record low, which pulled equities lower.
And although neither Israel nor Lebanon have big oil
deposits, traders said prices could gain support from a rare
cross-border skirmish between Israeli and Lebanese troops on
Tuesday, the most serious violence along the frontier since a
2006 war that had also elevated oil prices.
SUPPLIES AND HURRICANES
This week's inventory reports are also expected to show
supplies of distillates, including diesel, to have increased
1.2 million barrels, while gasoline stocks were expected to
have fallen 400,000 barrels, ending five weeks of gains.
The anticipated drop in U.S. crude stockpiles would follow
a jump of 7.3 million barrels to 360.8 million barrels in the
week to July 23, the biggest surge since 2008, according to
last week's EIA report. Inventories last week were also
expected to have dropped because of Bonnie-related disruptions
to shipping and production.
Tropical Depression 4 turned into Tropical Storm Colin in
the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, the U.S. National
Hurricane Center said, but it was not expected to pose a threat
to the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Selam Gebrekidan
in New York, Christopher Johnson in London and Alejandro
Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
