* African Union: Gaddafi accepts roadmap to end civil war
* Gaddafi forces continue shelling of Misrata
* Average U.S. gasoline prices near $4/gallon - survey
(Recasts, updates prices and market activity, changes byline
and moves dateline from previous LONDON)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday in
choppy trading, pulling back after surging to 32-month peaks
last week when the dollar swooned and as investors warily eyed
an African Union plan to halt Libya's conflict.
Brent and U.S. crude felt pressure when the African Union
said Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had accepted a roadmap to
end the civil war, including an immediate ceasefire, though
rebels said any settlement would require Gaddafi step down. For
details, see []
But Gaddafi forces continued to shell the besieged town of
Misrata, and a NATO official said Gaddafi's forces would be
targeted as long as they threatened civilians. []
Profit-taking after last week's price gains and the
dollar's early strength on Monday weighed on oil and other
commodities. Relief that the U.S. government had avoided a
shutdown, however, gave way to concerns about the debate on the
debt ceiling, limiting the greenback's rebound.
Brent crude for May <LCOc1> fell $1.59 to $125.06 a barrel
by 12:21 p.m. EDT (1621 GMT), dropping as low as $124.54 after
reaching a 32-month peak of $127.02.
U.S. crude <CLc1> fell $1.96 to $110.83, pulling back after
reaching an early $113.46 peak, the highest intraday price
since September 2008.
LIBYA AND MIDDLE EAST UNREST
Analysts remain skeptical about the prospect for any Libyan
peace deal. Commerzbank's Carsten Fritsch said: "We have seen
such peace plans before ... Unless Gaddafi steps down I think
there is little room for discussion from the rebel side."
With Libyan production and exports curbed, Saudi Arabia is
still seen as having capacity to fill any supply need, even as
unrest and protests in Saudi neighbor Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria
continued and were revived in Egypt.
A senior Gulf source dismissed analyst doubts about Saudi
Arabia's claimed 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd) capacity as
the work of speculators trying to manipulate oil prices.
[]
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
More on Middle East unrest:
[] []
Libya graphics
http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
Interactive graphic
http://link.reuters.com/puk87r
Reuters Insider Special - Doomsday Scenarios for Oil:
http://link.reuters.com/ner88r
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
PRICE THREAT TO DEMAND
The threat to demand from rising U.S. gasoline prices also
was cited by brokers and analysts as helping drag crude lower.
The average U.S. retail gasoline price moved closer to $4 a
gallon, jumping more than 19 cents since mid-March to a level
less than 10 percent below its all-time high, according to the
widely followed Lundberg Survey. []
The International Monetary Fund warned in its World
Economic Outlook that soaring oil prices and inflation in
emerging economies pose dangerous new risks to the world
economy. []
But later, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard told
reporters the IMF did not believe that rising commodity prices
would derail the global economic recovery. []
Demand concerns also remain over Japan, which expanded the
evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of
high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock
rattled the area one month after a massive quake and tsunami.
[]
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Claire
Milhench in London and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by
Dale Hudson)
