* Durable goods data help pressure U.S. crude
* Brent crude slip partly on euro zone debt worry
* Coming Up: U.S. 4th quarter GDP data, Friday
(Recasts, updates with trading volumes)
By Gene Ramos
NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices steadied on
Thursday after spiking in early trade on supply worries amid
fighting in Libya and growing unrest in the Middle East.
Trading was volatile and volume thin as investors awaited
the next turn of events in the Middle East and as they also
weighed developments surrounding Japan's nuclear crisis.
U.S. May crude oil futures <CLc1> settled down 15 cents at
$105.60 a barrel. The prices swung as low as $104.76 after
hitting a session high of $106.69, which was near the March 7
peak of $106.95, the highest since September 2008.
By 3:40 p.m. EDT (1940 GMT), U.S. trading volume was at
499,231 lots, 41 percent below the 30-day average, with about
1-1/2 hours left of the day's session.
"The propensity to take profits is pretty strong here after
moving up about $10 since March 16 and (U.S. crude) ran into
some resistance ahead of the year's high at $106.95," said
Andrew Lebow, broker at MF Global in New York.
In London, May Brent <LCOc1> retraced higher and settled up
17 cents at $115.72, bouncing off the session low $114.50. It
posted the day's high at $115.92.
Brent's trading volume stood at 343,863 lots, 34 percent
below the 30-day average.
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More on Middle East unrest: [][]
Libya graphics http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
Oil technicals []
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The choppy trading scenario caused Brent's premium against
its counterpart U.S. crude to retrace upward to above $10,
after dipping early to below $9. <CL-LCO1=R>
Analysts polled by Reuters forecast oil prices will hold
over $100 a barrel through 2013, due to tensions in the Middle
East, with average forecasts for 2011 raised by $12 to over
$104 a barrel. []
Earlier, news that a French fighter jet, part of a U.N.
coalition enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, had destroyed a
Libyan war plane pulled back Brent crude from negative
territory.
Before that Brent crude fell on concerns about euro zone
debt problems following the resignation of Portugal's Prime
Minister Jose Socrates on Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil had been pressured earlier by economic data
showing new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in
February, but was supported by improved labor market data and
persistent worries about unrest in the Middle East and fighting
in Libya.
LIBYA CONFLICT, MIDEAST UNREST
A French warplane destroyed a Libyan military aircraft with
an air-to-ground missile as it was landing at Misrata air base
in western Libya on Thursday, France's armed forces said.
[]
Allied warplanes hit military targets deep inside Libya but
failed to prevent tanks re-entering the western town of
Misrata, underlining the difficulty of the U.N.-based mission
to protect Libyans from government forces. []
In Yemen, soldiers loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh
clashed with army units backing opposition groups demanding he
step down. []
In Syria, at least 37 people were killed in the city of
Deraa, as protests grew, prompting the government to promise it
would to protesters' demands. []
In Bahrain, opposition activists said they planned to hold
a day of demonstrations throughout the tiny island country on
Friday in defiance of a ban on all public gatherings.
[]
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York; Claire
Milhench in London; and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
Editing by David Gregorio)
