* U.S. gasoline stockpiles reach highest level since 1993
* U.S. crude inventories at Cushing rise to record
* Coming Up: Euro-zone ECB rate decision; 1245 GMT
(Adds Yemen protests, updates prices)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose past $103 on
Thursday after violent clashes in Egypt raised fears of supply
disruptions and unrest across the Middle East, overshadowing the
bearish effect of soaring gasoline inventories in top consumer
the United States.
ICE Brent crude for March rose as much as $1.03 to
$103.37 a barrel, the highest intraday price since Sept. 26,
2008, and was up 85 cents at $103.19 at 0725 GMT. U.S. crude for
March rose 54 cents to $91.40.
Front-month Brent has rallied more than $8 since the unrest
in Egypt started from about $95 a barrel on Jan. 25. That 9
percent gain in slightly over a week is more than a third of
last year's total increase of 22 percent.
"The chance of contagion to a country that is systemically
important for oil markets still remains relatively low, but it's
the combination of that possibility and the importance of oil
flows from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through the Suez
Canal that is building a premium" into prices, said Ben
Westmore, commodities economist at National Australia Bank.
Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak opened fire on
Thursday on protesters camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square,
wounding at least seven, witnesses said.
The crisis has alarmed western governments who have regarded
Mubarak as a bulwark of stability in the volatile region, and
has raised the prospect of unrest spreading across the Middle
East and North Africa, which combined produce more than a third
of the world's oil supplies.
More than 20,000 people on Thursday filled the streets of
Sanaa, the capital of oil-producing Yemen, for a "Day of Rage"
rally, demanding a change in government and saying President Ali
Abdullah Saleh's offer to step down in 2013 was not enough.
So far, the unrest in Egypt has not affected traffic on the
Suez Canal or flows on the Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) oil
pipeline. Egypt controls both the canal and the pipeline, which
together moved over 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and
oil products in 2009, the latest data available.
"Once the tensions there begin to moderate, then you will
have the market focusing again on fundamentals. We still have
this abundant supply, so there is definitely more downside than
upside," Westmore added.
U.S. crude inventories rose 2.59 million barrels to 343.16
million barrels in the week to Jan. 28, the Energy Information
Administration said on Wednesday, while stockpiles of gasoline
surged by 6.15 million barrels to 236.23 million barrels, the
highest level since 1993.
Inventories at the key Cushing, Oklahoma terminal rose
667,000 barrels to 38.33 million barrels, a record. Cushing in
PADD 2 is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile
Exchange's benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures.
The glut is depressing the price of WTI relative to Brent,
with the front-month contract of the U.S. benchmark about $11.70
below the European marker. The spread last week ballooned to a
near-record $12.50 a barrel.
A massive winter storm, meanwhile, brought parts of the U.S.
Midwest to a standstill and delivered another wintry blow to the
Northeast, the biggest market for heating oil.
The U.S. March heating oil contract settled 2.37
cents higher at $2.7807 a gallon, the highest for a front-month
heating contract since October 2008. It extended gains on
Thursday to $2.7868 a gallon.
In other markets, Japanese stocks eased on Thursday as the
escalating violence in Egypt prompted investors to move to safer
assets, while commodities extended their recent gains,
underscoring growing inflationary pressures that could threaten
the global economic recovery.
The price of copper, a key industrial metal, hit a fresh
record high Thursday on expectations of strong global demand.
Oil traders also awaited data on U.S. non-farm payrolls for
January due on Friday as an indication for the state of the
economy and energy demand.
U.S. hiring probably gathered steam in January, marking a
fourth straight month of gains, but likely not enough to prevent
the jobless rate from ticking up. Nonfarm payrolls are expected
to have increased by 145,000 jobs, but severe snow storms that
blanketed large parts of the country during the survey period
could result in a much lower figure.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is
likely to increase output by "more rather than less" in response
to tensions in the Middle East, the chief economist of oil major
BP told Reuters Insider Television on Wednesday.
(Editing by Kim Coghill)
