* Brent touches 3-wk low near $107 on Japan, WTI around $97
* "No significant impact" from quake on oil shipments
-Intertanko
* Japan crisis solutions seen as last-ditch efforts
* Security forces attempt to clear Bahrain protestors
(Recasts with clearing of Bahrain protests)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell as much as
1.1 percent to touch a three-week low near $107 on concern about
Japan's nuclear crisis, but recovered to erase losses as
Bahraini security forces attempted to clear protesters on
Wednesday.
Prices fell more than $1 after another fire broke out and
radiation levels rose at the earthquake-crippled Fukushima
nuclear plant north of Tokyo, but rebounded on news of a fresh
crackdown against demonstrators in Manama.
Brent for April fell as much as $1.17 to $107.35 a barrel,
the lowest since Feb. 23, and was up 4 cents at $108.60 by 0625
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."
Bahraini security forces in light armoured personnel
carriers began to clear makeshift roadblocks from a thoroughfare
leading to the main financial district on Wednesday, as pitched
battles raged with protesters.
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.
U.S. crude touched $96.22 on Wednesday, the lowest
price this month, before rebounding to $97.22, up 4 cents on
Wednesday.
But 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.
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 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)
