* Brent touches 3-wk low near $107 on Japan, rebounds toward
$110
* "No significant impact" from quake on oil shipments
-Intertanko
* Japan crisis solutions seen as last-ditch efforts
* Security forces attempt to clear Bahrain protesters
(Recasts with price gain, adds broker, OPEC comments)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose $1 towards
$110 after Bahraini security forces cracked down on protesters
on Wednesday, rebounding from a three-week low near $107 earlier
in the day on pessimism about Japan's nuclear crisis.
Helicopters flew overhead and Bahraini police fired teargas
on Wednesday as they cleared protesters from a central
roundabout that had become the symbol of an uprising by the
island's Shi'ite Muslim majority.
Brent for April rose $1 to $109.52 a barrel by 0353
GMT, rebounding from $107.35, the lowest price since Feb. 23,
and tracking a bounce in Japan's Nikkei average as hedge funds
rushed to covered short positions in futures.
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, as Japan's
nuclear crisis slashed confidence across markets.
"The Middle East tension that is coming from Bahrain is a
positive factor for the oil market," said Ken Hasegawa, a
commodity derivatives manager at Japan's Newedge brokerage.
"After the earthquake and the nuclear plant problem in Japan,
all markets showed a big decline. Therefore what we are seeing
now is a natural rebound. It is still possible that the decline
will continue," Hasegawa said, highlighting pervasive volatility
in oil markets.
April Brent, the front-month contract expiring on Wednesday,
earlier fell more than $1 after another fire broke out and
radiation levels rose at the earthquake-crippled Fukushima
nuclear plant north of Tokyo.
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 $97.98, up 80 cents.
But oil prices have yet to benefit from an expected increase
in Japanese 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 5 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.
OPEC could meet to assess crude oil demand and supply after
the crisis in Japan, Nigeria's foreign minister said on
Wednesday.
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 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 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)
