NYMEX-Crude under $75 after surprise gain in U.S. supply

                                
 SINGAPORE, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Oil was steady below $75 a
barrel on Thursday after government data showed an unexpected
increase in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles.
                                
 The inventory increase last week, despite the week-long
shutdown of the biggest pipeline shipping Canadian crude to the
U.S., reaffirmed views that prices would mostly remain
rangebound for the rest of the year between $70 and $80, the
preferred level for OPEC producers.
                                
 The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
should keep its oil output targets unchanged at a meeting next
month and comply more closely with its production agreements,
the top oil official for OPEC member Libya said on Wednesday.
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 FUNDAMENTALS
                                
 * U.S. crude for November delivery slipped 2 cents to
$74.69 a barrel by 0108 GMT, after settling on Wednesday at the
lowest level since Aug. 31. November ICE Brent fell 2 cents to
$77.93.
                                
 * U.S. total petroleum stockpiles last week climbed to a
record 1.144 billion barrels, the Energy Information
Administration said on Wednesday, the highest level since it
began collecting weekly data in 1990. [EIA/S]
                                
 * U.S. crude inventories rose 970,000 barrels in the week
to Sept. 17 as imports increased, according to the IEA.
                                
 * Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a decrease of 1.9
million barrels after a leak forced the shutdown of Enbridge's
<ENB.TO> 670,000-bpd 6A pipeline, which supplies refineries in
the Midwest and carries Canadian crude oil to the key storage
hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. The duct halted shipments from Sept.
9-17.
                                
 * Gasoline stocks rose unexpectedly by 1.59 million
barrels, while distillate supplies of fuels, including heating
oil and diesel, increased slightly more than forecast, adding
347,000 barrels.
                                
 MARKETS NEWS
                                
 * The U.S. dollar was on the defensive in Asia on Thursday
as talk the Federal Reserve will soon start printing more of
the currency drove down Treasury yields and dragged it to a
five-month low on the euro. [USD/]
                                
 * Major stock markets declined on Wednesday as some
technology companies slumped and the Federal Reserve's downbeat
assessment of the U.S. economy weighed on sentiment.
[MKTS/GLOB]
                                
 * Holidays in Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea kept
stock markets closed on Thursday.
                                
 DATA/EVENTS
                                
 * The following data is expected on Thursday, GMT:
                                
 - 0758 Eurozone Markit Mfg Flash PMI Sep
                                
 - 1230 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Weekly
                                
 - 1400 U.S. Existing home sales Aug
                                
 - 1400 U.S. Lead indicators Aug
                                
 - 1430 U.S. EIA natural gas stocks Sep 17
                                
 RELATED NEWS
                                
 * The U.S. National Hurricane Center on Wednesday said
there was a 60 percent chance a tropical depression could form
in the central southern Caribbean Sea over the next 48 hours.
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 * Most computer weather models continued to forecast the
system would move west across the Caribbean and hit Central
America in Honduras or Belize in about four or five days,
missing U.S. oil and natural gas operations in the northern
Gulf of Mexico.
 (Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; Editing by Manash Goswami)