* U.S. crude inventories at Cushing jump 1.8 mln bbls - EIA
* Strong Chinese demand growth
* Blast halts Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline flow
* Coming Up: U.S. weekly jobless claims; 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds Iraqi blast; paragraphs 3-4, 17-19)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Oil steadied below $84 on
Thursday after higher U.S. inventories signalled demand in the
world's top oil consumer was lagging the recovery in the global
economy.
Crude inventories in the United States rose unexpectedly
last week, government statistics showed, and fuel supplies
climbed more than forecast. []
The market received some support from news of an explosion
on the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline which carries a quarter of
Iraq's crude exports. []
U.S. benchmark June light crude oil futures, also known as
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), <CLc1> was unchanged at $83.68 a
barrel by 0924 GMT. The front-month contract reached an 18-month
high above $87 on April 6.
U.S. crude prices came under pressure from last week's
1.8-million-barrel stockpile gain at the Cushing, Oklahoma,
pricing point reported by the Energy Information Administration
(EIA), which accounted for most of the 1.9-million-barrel
increase logged at a national level.
At over 34 million barrels, landlocked crude inventories at
Cushing are beginning to put pressure on U.S. oil futures.
"Our view is that oil prices are somewhat decoupled from
fundamentals at the moment and do not yet reflect the high level
of stocks," said Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank.
"We expect oil prices to come down by mid year and have a
correction target of $60 to $65 per barrel," he said.
"AHEAD OF FUNDAMENTALS"
Edward Meir, analyst at brokers MF Global, highlighted what
he saw as the potentially negative influence of the dollar on
oil as the euro remained under pressure after the euro dropped
against the dollar for a fifth day in a row on Wednesday.
The dollar was up 0.15 percent against a basket of
currencies on Thursday. [] <EUR=>
"We would suggest that prices have gotten somewhat ahead of
the fundamentals," he said in a note to clients.
"We are consequently looking for a modest pullback over the
short-term, particularly if the dollar continues to strengthen
on the back of the Greek debt crisis, which judging from recent
market action, still looks to be a reasonable bet," he added.
ICE Brent crude futures <LCOc1> have been holding up better
than U.S. futures and the Brent June contract was trading around
$2 higher than WTI on Thursday, up 15 cents at $85.85 a barrel.
North Sea crude oil supplies will tighten over the next
month due to offshore maintenance work and Brent is also
responding to evidence of growing Chinese demand, analysts say.
China's apparent oil demand in March rose 12.3 percent from
a year earlier, the seventh double-digit increase in a row,
according to Reuters calculations from official data released on
Wednesday. []
Rising consumption in China, the world's second-largest oil
user, has helped support crude prices as demand from developed
economies struggles to rebound from the recession.
The pipeline blast in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh
is likely to affect oil exports via the Kirkuk to Ceyhan
pipeline for about three days, an Iraqi oil official said.
The explosion, which occurred south of Mosul in al-Hadhar
district, 280 km (175 miles) north of Baghdad, made a hole in
the pipeline, a police source told Reuters.
A number of police sources said the blast was caused by a
bomb. Another oil official said he could not immediately confirm
if the halt was due to sabotage or technical failure.
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For a graphic of the performance of commodities this year,
click on: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/10/CMD_PRFG0410.swf
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(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by James Jukwey)
