* Oil below Monday's one-month high, little changed on day
* Canada-U.S. pipeline still shut
* Strong U.S. retail sales support oil prices
* U.S. API oil stocks, 2030 GMT: fall forecast in crude
(Adds U.S. data, updates prices)
By David Turner
LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Oil remained on Tuesday below
Monday's one-month high, with traders reluctant to take strong
positions ahead of eagerly awaited inventory numbers.
U.S. crude for October <CLc1> was trading close to Monday's
closing price in early U.S. trading. It was at $77.27 at 1414
GMT, 8 cents up on Monday's close, but well below Monday's
intraday peak of $78.04 -- the highest value since August 11.
Prices had surged on Monday as the shutdown of the biggest
Canada-U.S. pipeline, run by Calgary-based pipeline giant
Enbridge, continued. []
The shutdown entered a fifth day on Tuesday, but traders
said markets had become wary of taking strong positions ahead of
U.S. oil inventory figures expected from the American Petroleum
Institute (API) at 2030 GMT on Tuesday, and from the Energy
Information Administration on Wednesday. []
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
the reports. []
However, traders said the markets had already factored in a
rundown in crude stocks, so prices would only rise if the
drawdown was large.
"A substantial drawdown would certainly have a positive
effect on prices," Tony Machacek of Bache Commodities, the
brokerage, said. However, he suggested that prices could fall in
response to a stock draw of below 2 million barrels.
INVENTORIES
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 from Canada 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.
Enbridge said on Tuesday it expected the welding of a
replacement section of pipe on Line 6A to be completed later in
the day, but was unable to estimate when the line could restart.
[]
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.
On Wednesday at 1430 GMT the EIA will follow the API's data.
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. However, it
forecast that Julia would miss the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
[]
Oil prices found some support from figures showing a
higher-than-expected 0.4 percent rise in U.S. retail sales in
August -- the biggest gain since March. []
OPEC said on Tuesday it was happy with an oil price of
between $70 and $80 a barrel, at a news conference to mark its
50th anniversary. []
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; editing by James
Jukwey)
