* Oil rises $3 after late surge on Wall Street
* Expectation of OPEC supply cut lends strength
* US data shows large increases in crude, gasoline stocks
* Hurricane Omar weakens to tropical storm
(Updates prices)
SINGAPORE, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Oil rose more than $3 on
Friday, rebounding from a 15-month low below $70 on a late
rally on Wall Street and growing expectations of an OPEC
production cut.
U.S. equities, the oil market's leading barometer of global
economic health, staged a late surge on Thursday as investors
snapped up battered shares a day before stock options expired.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> jumped 4.68 percent
while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed
4.24 percent. []
U.S. crude for November delivery <CLc1> rose $3.12 to
$72.97 a barrel by 0519 GMT, after settling $4.69 lower at
$69.85, before the close of trade on Wall Street.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> gained $2.46 to $70.30.
"This is all the oil market has been doing," said Tim
Evans, energy analyst with Citi Futures Perspective. "Our
short-term swings are all 'equities are up' and 'equities are
down'."
Analysts said oil traders were also betting the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would reduce supply
to support prices when it meets next week.
The 13-member cartel said on Thursday it had brought
forward to Friday next week an emergency meeting to discuss the
impact of global recession on oil markets. []
Oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent from their peak
above $147 a barrel hit in July, on demand worries amid the
global economic downturn.
Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said he expected
OPEC to cut oil production by one million barrels per day (bpd)
or more at the meeting.
Nigerian Oil Minister Odein Ajumogobia said the meeting was
an opportunity to consider options regarding the world oil
price but that no course of action had yet been proposed.
"The only real news out there is the OPEC meeting, so
short-term, people will try to concentrate on that," said
Gerard Rigby, an independent energy consultant based in Sydney.
"If they actually cut production, that will put a floor to
prices."
Longer term, analysts said softening demand and the economy
were still the focus, with many of them have scaled back their
global oil demand growth estimates after a recent slew of grim
economic data.
Crude oil inventories in the United States rose 5.6 million
barrels last week, far exceeding analysts' expectation of a
1.9-million-barrel increase, as demand in the world's top
consumer continued to fall, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration reported. []
Gasoline inventories rose 7.0 million barrels, more than
double analysts' forecast of a 2.9-million-barrel increase, as
overall product demand over the past four weeks dropped 8.9
percent from year ago levels.
Hurricane Omar weakened to a tropical storm in the Atlantic
on Thursday after threading its way through the small islands
of the northeastern Caribbean, causing relatively little damage
and posing no threat to the United States or any other land
area, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. []
(Reporting by Chua Baizhen and Bernie Woodall in SAN DIEGO;
Editing by Michael Urquhart)
