* Oil retreats from 8-week intraday high above $83
* OPEC officials say prices within their desired range
* Coming up: IEA monthly oil market report due Friday
(Recasts updates prices, market activity to settlement)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Oil settled nearly unchanged
above $82 a barrel on Thursday amid uncertainty about whether
China will tighten monetary policy, which could dent energy
demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer.
Crude received little direction from the foreign exchange
market where the dollar was little changed against other major
currencies, while investors also awaited the outcome of OPEC's
meeting next week to discuss output policy.
U.S. crude for April <CLc1> rose 2 cents to settle at
$82.11 a barrel, after touching $83.03 on Wednesday, the
highest level since oil's 15-month high of $83.95 on Jan. 11.
London ICE April Brent <LCOc1> fell 20 cents to settle at
$80.28 a barrel.
"There's a lot of uncertainty on what the next market move
will be. It's consolidating at this point," said Andy Lebow,
broker at MF Global in New York.
Consumer inflation in China has soared to a 16-month high,
and a raft of economic data showed broad-based strength. This
provided fresh arguments for policy tightening in a bid to stop
the economy overheating.
China's booming economy has seen oil imports soar, hitting
their second highest ever monthly level in February
[]. On Wednesday, OPEC said Chinese daily oil
demand has jumped by almost 2 million barrels in just five
years to stand around 8.6 million barrels per day.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), which pumps at least one in every three barrels of oil,
meets in Vienna on March 17 to discuss production policy.
Officials have said they do not expect a change in targets
while prices are within their desired range. []
"You are going to see $75 to $85 until OPEC changes their
views," said Peter McGuire, managing director of Commodity
Warrants Australia in Sydney. "Given that the U.S. dollar is
appreciating, they are relatively content with what they are
receiving for their oil."
OPEC has restricted output since the onset of the financial
crisis in a bid to support prices. But the group's compliance
with its officially targeted cut of 4.2 million barrels per day
(bpd) has slipped to just 53 percent as prices have risen.
The dollar <.DXY> was near unchanged against the euro on
Thursday after mixed data on U.S. trade and jobless claims
failed to give investors direction. The dollar is up almost 8
percent since the end of November.
A stronger dollar boosts the purchasing power of oil
exporters, including OPEC members. A weaker greenback usually
supports oil prices as it makes dollar-denominated commodities
less expensive for holders of other currencies. []
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in January as
oil imports fell to their lowest since February 1999, a
government report showed, which helped pressure crude prices.
U.S. exports fell, but not as much as the oil-led drop in
imports. []
"The U.S. trade deficit being lower than expected this
morning speaks of a U.S. consumer that continues to struggle,"
said John Kilduff, partner at Round Earth Capital in New York.
A smaller-than-expected drop in the number of U.S. workers
filing new applications for unemployment benefits also weighed
on sentiment, but falling gasoline inventories in the United
States and the first signs of a recovery in demand in 18 months
supported prices. [] []
U.S. crude inventories have climbed for the past six weeks,
showing a 1.4 million-barrel gain in the week to March 5, the
Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
[]
The nation's gasoline stockpiles showed a surprise decrease
of 2.9 million barrels, the EIA said, while distillate stocks
including heating oil and diesel fell by 2.2 million barrels.
U.S. total oil product demand over the past four weeks was
19.41 million bpd, up 3.8 percent from a year ago, showing the
first consistent recovery in demand for 18 months.
(Additional reporting by David Sheppard in London, Robert
Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New York, Alejandro Barbajosa in
Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)
