UPDATE 6-U.S. oil slips as Enbridge preps pipeline restart

                                
 * Enbridge repairs to key Line 6A pipeline nearly done
                                
 * Enbridge restarts smaller Canada-New York pipeline
                                
 * Dollar weakens, supportive to crude early
                                
 * Coming up: EIA oil data 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday
 (Recasts, updates with settlement prices, market activity)
                                
 By Robert Gibbons
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday
after Enbridge Inc said repairs to its key Line 6A pipeline
bringing Canadian crude oil to the United States were nearly
complete and it hoped to gain approval to resume shipments.
                                
 A spokeswoman also said Enbridge <ENB.N> <ENB.TO> had
restarted its 70,000 barrel per day Line 10 crude pipeline from
Ontario to New York state after no leak was found on that line.
The line was shut late Monday on a suspected leak.
                                
 After crude settled in New York, U.S. government regulators
said Enbridge will not be allowed to restart its 670,000
barrels per day Line 6A that leaked in Illinois last week until
the government deems it safe. [ID:nN14275221]
                                
 U.S. crude for October delivery <CLc1> fell 39 cents, or
0.51 percent, to settle at $76.80 per barrel. It traded from
$76.21 to $77.99, stalling just below Monday's intraday peak of
$78.04 -- the highest front-month price since Aug. 11.
                                
 In afternoon trading in New York, U.S. crude oil futures
trading volume was at about 850,000, 32 percent above the
one-year average, according to Reuters data.
                                
 ICE October Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 13 cents to settle at
$79.16 a barrel, managing to hold on to some of its gains, but
finishing well below the $79.90 intraday high.
                                
 "The news that the Enbridge pipeline will restart soon had
a lot to do with the downward momentum in crude oil futures,"
said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.
                                
 "People appeared to have over reacted to the situation,
fearing that the shutdown would last for a week. And so crude
became overpriced, and now the market is adjusting lower."
                                
 U.S. oil prices had surged Monday on the ongoing shutdown
of Calgary-based Enbridge's 670,000 barrel per day Line 6A, the
biggest Canada-U.S. pipeline.
                                
 Enbridge shutting the crude oil pipeline to New York state
on Monday followed last week's leak in Illinois that shut the
Line 6A that brings Canadian crude to U.S. Midwest refineries
and the crucial Cushing, Oklahoma, oil hub.
                                
 The Line 6A leak occurred just six weeks after Enbridge's
Line 6B pipeline ruptured in Michigan. Line 6B also remained
shut, awaiting regulatory approval to restart.
                                
 WEAK DOLLAR
                                
 Trading sources said the weak dollar boosted crude prices
in early trade to near $78 a barrel.
                                
 The dollar slid to a 15-year low against the yen. The euro
hit a one-month peak against the greenback and the dollar index
also weakened.
                                
 The Chinese yuan closed higher after hitting a fresh
post-revaluation peak against the dollar. Beijing was seen
conceding to let the yuan rise as U.S. lawmakers called for a
vote on a bill to get tough with China over its slow exchange
rate reform.
                                
 Oil prices also found early support from figures showing
higher-than-expected U.S. retail sales in August and a second
government report that said business inventories increased in
July at double the expectation as sales rebounded strongly.
                                
 Gold hit record highs above $1,270 an ounce in its biggest
one-day rally in four months, as the U.S. dollar declined
broadly after the upbeat data failed to convince investors to
shift into risk-linked assets. [GOL/]
                                
 INVENTORIES
                                
 Traders also eyed a low-pressure system in the Caribbean
Sea that was given a 70 percent chance of developing into a
tropical depression [ID:nN14272879] and awaited weekly
inventory reports from industry and government that were
expected to show U.S. crude stocks fell last week. [EIA/S]
                                
 While gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen last
week, MasterCard said on Tuesday that U.S. retail gasoline
demand fell 3.2 percent last week versus the previous week as
stormy weather and wildfires cut into Labor Day holiday travel.
Demand also fell versus the year ago period. [ID:nN1456122]
                                
 Industry group American Petroleum Institute will release
its inventory report on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT).
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's report is due on
Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).
 (Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, David Turner
in London and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore)