* Igor churns westward, could strengthen even further
* Technicals show U.S. crude above $78 []
(Adds comment, Enbridge, updates prices)
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Oil rose to a one-month high on
Monday, spurred by strong Chinese demand growth and industrial
output, while an extended shutdown of a major Canada-U.S. crude
pipeline tightened supply.
U.S. crude for October <CLc1> climbed as much as $1.05, to
$77.50 a barrel, the highest price since Aug. 12, and was up 71
cents at $77.16 by 1136 GMT. Brent <LCOc1> rose 29 cents to
$78.45.
Reflecting accelerating industrial activity, China's implied
oil demand rose by 7.4 percent in August from a year earlier.
[]
"The Chinese data was overwhelmingly positive," said Ben
Westmore, a commodities analyst at National Australia Bank.
"China is in a soft landing after all the stimulus, and
emerging economies are growing quite strongly. In terms of oil
use, that portends strong demand in the coming months."
PIPELINE
Prices have also been helped further by a leak last Thursday
in a major pipeline connecting Canadian production with
refineries in the Midwest and the pricing hub for the U.S. crude
benchmark at Cushing, Oklahoma.
Enbridge <ENB.TO> has cleaned up most of the oil leaked by
its Line 6A pipeline, but it said it had no estimate for when
shipments would resume. []
"The leakage in this major pipeline will be supporting (U.S.
crude) prices, and Enbridge has not given any indication of the
time estimate for how long it will take to repair it," Eugen
Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank, said.
A big concern has been stocks at Cushing, and the longer the
pipeline is down, the more likely it is that these stocks are
going to fall and the market tighten in that area, Westmore
said.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For a graphic on Enbridge's pipeline configuration:
http://link.reuters.com/qyz52p
For a factbox on the history of Enbridge's pipeline spills
in the U.S. []
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Six weeks ago, Enbridge was forced to shut another smaller
part of its Lakehead system, which the U.S. government has not
yet allowed to resume operations following heightened scrutiny
because of BP Plc's <BP.L> Gulf of Mexico spill.
Brent posted a premium of more than $3.50 a barrel to U.S.
crude last week, its highest since mid-May, but that had shrunk
to around $1.20 on Monday.
Higher equity markets also helped oil prices. The oil market
has spent much of the year in lockstep with equities and
negatively correlated to the U.S. dollar.
On Monday, world stocks measured by MSCI All-Country World
Index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.75 percent. The dollar was down
0.60 percent against a basket of currencies. <.DXY>
Hurricane Igor churned westward in the Atlantic Ocean as a
dangerous Category Four storm and could strengthen even further,
forecasters said. Igor, capable of causing catastrophic damage,
posed no immediate threat to land or energy interests.
[]
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore,
editing by Sue Thomas)
