* Brent touches 3-wk low near $107, WTI around $97
* "No significant impact" from quake on oil shipments
-Intertanko
* Japan crisis solutions seen as last-ditch efforts
* Uneasy calm in Bahrain after martial law declaration
(Adds impact on oil shipments, Bahrain forces clear protesters)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell as much as
1.1 percent on Wednesday to touch a three-week low near $107 as
concern about Japan's nuclear crisis offset Middle East unrest
after Bahrain declared martial law.
Another fire broke out and radiation levels rose at the
earthquake-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo,
triggering international alarm and suggesting the crisis may be
slipping out of control.
Brent for April fell as much as $1.17 to $107.35 a barrel,
the lowest since Feb. 23, and was down 44 cents at $108.08 by
0506 GMT. Prices reached almost $120 on Feb. 24 as violence
escalated in Libya, disrupting oil output. They slumped 4.5
percent on Tuesday, the biggest drop in more than a year.
"Sentiment is still at very low levels with investors'
appetite for riskier assets very much off the table," said Ben
Le Brun, an analyst at CMC Markets.
"The market is looking for a change in global sentiment,
with the crisis in Japan being compounded by escalating violence
in the Middle East."
Oil prices have yet to benefit from an expected increase in
demand for gasoil and fuel oil for power generation to replace
some of the nuclear capacity lost following Friday's earthquake
and tsunami. Brent has dropped 6 percent since the quake struck.
U.S. crude fell 17 cents to $97.02 on Wednesday.
Oil shipments to Japan have not been significantly affected
by the earthquake and subsequent nuclear crisis, a top shipping
industry group said on Wednesday.
"There has been no significant impact for our members trading
in the region," said Tim Wilkins, Asia-Pacific manager for
Intertanko, the world's largest association of tanker owners,
covering a combined fleet of more than 3,000 vessels.
Academics and nuclear experts agree that the solutions being
proposed to contain damage to the Daiichi reactors at Fukushima,
240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, are last-ditch efforts to
stem what could well be remembered as one of the world's worst
industrial disasters.
In Bahrain, helicopters flew overhead and riot police fired
teargas as they moved into Bahrain's Pearl roundabout early on
Wednesday to clear protesters camped out there for weeks, a
Reuters witness said.
Bahrain's king declared martial law on Tuesday as his
government struggled to quell an uprising by the island's
Shi'ite Muslim majority that has drawn in troops from fellow
Sunni-ruled neighbour Saudi Arabia.
The island state lies less than 100 kilometres from the hub
of the Saudi oil industry around Dhahran, including the world's
largest oil fields, terminals and processing facilities.
In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi's government forces pushed
eastwards towards the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi and
his government predicted victory within days while world powers
debated imposing a no-fly zone to help stop him.
Libya's oil output, normally of about 1.6 million barrels
per day and down by at least two-thirds, will take some time to
return to normal, the head of the National Oil Corporation said
on Tuesday, because some installations have been damaged in
fighting between rebel and government forces.
Shokri Ghanem also told Reuters that Libyan oil
installations at Ras Lanuf, Brega, Es Sider and Mellitah were
"completely" under central control and oil workers were
assessing the condition of facilities.
Sustained high oil prices will damage world economic
recovery, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, as it
warned that OPEC's cushion of spare oil output to calm the
market was at its lowest for four years.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
