* U.S. gasoline stocks show surprise drawdown
* Profit-taking wipes out early gains
* OPEC now thinks 2010 world demand will rise 880,000 bpd
* Coming up: Weekly jobless claims report on Thursday
(Recasts, updates throughout, changes dateline from LONDON
previous)
By Rebekah Kebede
NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Oil prices were nearly
unchanged on Wednesday, after profit-taking erased earlier
gains from news that gasoline stocks in the United States
dropped unexpectedly.
U.S. crude for April delivery <CLc1> was up 8 cents at
$81.57 per barrel at 1:14 p.m. (1814 GMT), falling from a fresh
eight-week high of $83.03 earlier.
London ICE Brent for April climbed 1 cent to $79.92.
"Crude futures are coming down on profit-taking. We were up
earlier on the big gasoline drawdown," said Mark Waggoner,
president at Excel Futures in Newport Beach, California.
Gasoline stocks in the world's largest energy market showed
a surprise drop of 2.9 million barrels to 229 million barrels
last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
reported. []
And U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles rose 1.4 million
barrels to 343 million barrels in the week to March 5 -- below
the 1.9 million barrels rise that analysts had been expecting.
"Today's ... data certainly has a bullish undertone with
both gasoline and distillates off much more than expected,"
said Chris Jarvis, senior analyst at Caprock Risk Management.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel,
fell by 2.2 million barrels, far more than the 900,000 barrel
draw predicted by the market.
A report showing that China's imports of crude oil in
February rose to the second highest on record on a daily basis
was also supportive for oil prices. []
OPEC SEES DEMAND RISING
Earlier, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) had given a mild boost to prices when it said
it now thought the world would need 28.94 million barrels per
day of its crude this year -- an increase of 190,000 bpd from
its previous assessment. []
It said total world demand was likely to rise by 880,000
bpd in 2010, up from a previous estimate of 810,000 bpd.
OPEC meets next week in Vienna to discuss output and
analysts expect it to keep targets unchanged. []
OPEC members have suggested prices around $70-80 are
reasonable and on Monday, Algeria said levels in the low $80s
were fair. []
The group's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, will reduce
crude supply in April to a major Asian buyer, but will keep
full contracted volumes to others.
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New
York, Jo Winterbottom in London; editing by Marguerita Choy)
