* Pipeline closure in United States supports prices
* Coming Up: U.S. API weekly oil stocks at 2030 GMT
(Adds European comment, updates prices)
By David Turner
LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Oil was steady on Tuesday at
above $77 a barrel, a little below one-month highs, ahead of
inventory reports expected to show crude stock draws as the
shutdown of the biggest Canada-U.S. pipeline entered a fifth
day. []
U.S. crude for October <CLc1> was down 8 cents at
$77.11 at 0839 GMT. It settled at a one-month high on Monday,
having earlier touched an intraday peak at $78.04. That was the
highest since Aug. 11, when prices last touched $80.
Total U.S. crude inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels
last week, their second weekly drop, after the shutdown of
Enbridge's Line 6A cut imports, a Reuters poll forecast ahead of
weekly supply reports on Tuesday and Wednesday. []
[] []
"The Enbridge disruption will be the main focus for the oil
markets this week," said Olivier Jakob of consultants
Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland.
"We're still waiting for some clarity on when the end to the
disruption will be."
However, he said that for oil prices to rise in response to
the inventory figures this week, "I think you would need
something a bit larger than a 2 million draw."
Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the pricing point for
the U.S. benchmark, have remained high for most of the summer,
despite a series of drops in the past few weeks.
The country's total petroleum inventories climbed to a new
peak of 1,143,500,000 barrels in the week to Sept. 3, the
highest since at least 1990, when the government began issuing
weekly data.
Enbridge's Line 6A feeds into the heart of the Midwest's oil
network. The closure is affecting refineries in the region and
storage at Cushing, where inventories fell more than 200,000
barrels to 35.54 million in the week to Sept. 3.
On Monday, there was still no estimate of when the troubled
line would resume shipments.
This week's inventory reports were expected to show little
change in stocks of U.S. products. Distillates, including
heating oil and diesel, rose about 300,000 barrels last week
after two weeks of drawdowns, the poll showed, while gasoline
inventories fell about 400,000 barrels.
The American Petroleum Institute, the industry group, will
issue its report for the week to Sept. 10 on Tuesday at 2030
GMT, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration will
follow with government data on Wednesday at 1430 GMT.
Tropical Storm Julia strengthened over the far eastern
Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday and became the fifth hurricane of the
season, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. []
Traders in the oil market will also pay attention to U.S.
retail sales statistics for August, due out at 1230 GMT on
Tuesday, for a check on the economic health of the world's top
oil consumer.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; Editing by
William Hardy)
