* Oil prices rebound, snapping an 11 pct drop since Dec. 1
* Data to show US crude stocks fell last week-Reuters poll
* U.S. cold spell may boost heating oil usage
* Dollar firms to 6-week high vs. foreign currency basket
(Updates with settlement prices; adds details throughout)
By Joshua Schneyer
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for the first
day in 10 on Tuesday, moving above $70 a barrel as traders bet
that government data will show U.S. crude inventories fell last
week and colder-than-normal weather will boost demand for
heating oil.
Oil prices rebounded from their longest continuous streak
of losses since 2001, after they had fallen more than 11
percent since Dec. 1, amid high global crude inventories and
weak fuel demand.
U.S. crude for January delivery <CLc1> rose $1.18 to settle
at $70.69 a barrel. In London, Brent crude <LCOc1> settled 16
cents higher at $72.05 a barrel.
Inventory data may show that crude stocks fell in the
United States, the world's top energy consumer, by 1.8 million
barrels last week as refineries churned out more fuel and
imports dropped, according to an expanded Reuters poll of 13
analysts. []
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, was to
report weekly U.S. inventory data later Tuesday, and the
government's Energy Information Administration will issue its
more authoritative weekly stocks report early Wednesday.
A 10-day National Weather Service forecast late Monday
called for lower-than-normal temperatures in most of the
eastern United States, the world's biggest regional consumer of
heating oil.
Higher demand for heating oil could help draw down crude
stocks, which stand around 7 percent higher than five-year
seasonal averages in the United States as a sluggish economic
recovery continues to cut into demand.
Increased industrial activity also may help oil demand
recover. U.S. industrial production rose in November by 0.8
percent, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday, more than the 0.5
percent rise that most economists were expecting.
[]
"There's a feeling we may see a drop in crude oil and
distillate stocks," said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron
Hanover in Connecticut. "And higher industrial use could be
bullish for oil."
The dollar hit a 2-1/2-month high against the euro on
Tuesday and rallied to a six-week high versus a basket of
foreign currencies. []
Oil prices rose in spite of gains in the dollar. Oil has
typically fallen this year on days when the greenback
strengthens, which can be a sign that investors are averse to
buying riskier assets, like commodities.
OPEC, which pumps a third of the world's oil, slightly
raised its forecast for world oil demand in 2010 to an average
85.1 million barrels per day, up by 70,000 bpd from its
forecast last month. []
But OPEC may also boost crude production. Reuters
calculations showed the group's compliance with production
curbs to help support oil prices slipped to 58 percent in
November, down from 60 percent in October.
"It's not surprising that at current prices countries are
looking to rethink," said commodity analyst Eugen Weinberg at
Commerzbank.
Oil reached a 2009 high around $82 a barrel in late
October, after rising from below $33 a barrel last December.
Crude surged to a record above $147 a barrel in July 2008,
before plummeting, as major world economies sputtered.
(Additional reporting by Chris Baldwin in London, Robert
Gibbons in New York and Jennifer Tan in Singapore; Editing by
Christian Wiessner)
