* NHC says tropical depression likely, helps lift oil
* U.S. equities turn positive, add to support for oil
* Data expected to show US crude stocks down, supports oil
* Coming up: EIA oil data at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday
(Recasts, updates with settlement prices, market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) - Oil rose more than 1 percent on
Tuesday, up a second day as U.S. stocks bounced higher from early
lows.
A tropical weather threat ahead of weekly oil inventory reports
which is expected to show lower crude stockpiles also provided
support.
U.S. crude for August delivery <CLc1> rose 90 cents, or
1.18 percent, to settle at $77.44 a barrel at the contract's
expiration. The more liquid September contract <CLc2> rose 68
cents, or 0.88 percent, to settle at $77.58.
Front-month ICE Brent crude <LCOc1> for September delivery
rose 60 cents to settle at $76.22.
"Expectations of another stock draw in domestic crude oil
stocks are supporting the rise in crude futures. Also, the S&P
500 has come back up and that is also supportive," said Andy
Lebow, broker at MF Global in New York.
Wall Street shrugged off disappointing reports from Goldman
Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> and International Business Machines Corp
<IBM.N> and bounced from early lows to end in positive territory
[].
Traders said data showing U.S. housing starts fell more than
expected in June to the lowest level in eight months dampened markets
early, but data showing a rise in permit applications offered some
hope that home building might pick up. []
Adding a lift to oil prices, the U.S. National Hurricane
Center on Tuesday raised to 60 percent the chances a tropical
wave near Puerto Rico will become a tropical depression.
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Link: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Link: http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/
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The tropical wave "has the potential to become nasty," Mark
Waggoner, president at Excel Futures Inc. in Bend, Oregon.
The NHC has forecast this year's Atlantic storm season may
be the most intense since 2005, when hurricanes Katrina and
Rita hit the U.S. Gulf Coast's energy output and infrastructure
particularly hard.
OIL INVENTORIES
U.S. crude oil inventories were expected to have fallen a
fourth straight week, by 1.4 million barrels, according to an
expanded Reuters survey on Tuesday. []
But products stocks were forecast to be higher. Gasoline
stocks were expected to be up 900,000 barrels, posting a fourth
consecutive weekly rise in the middle of the U.S. summer
driving season.
Distillate fuel inventories, including heating oil and
diesel, were expected to be up 1.6 million barrels, which would
be an eighth straight rise.
The industry group American Petroleum Institute's inventory
report is due out at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT).
The U.S. Department of Energy will publish its oil
statistics on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).
Ahead of the inventory reports, MasterCard said on Tuesday
that U.S. weekly retail gasoline demand rose 1.3 percent in the
week ending July 16 against the prior week. []
The survey also showed gasoline demand rose versus the 2009
period and that the four-week average was up from year ago.
Prices have been stuck in a range between $71 and $80 for
more than six weeks as volatility related to the European debt
crisis has dwindled. The bullish effect of crude inventory
drops have been offset by weaker U.S. macroeconomic indicators
that fueled concerns about a slower economic growth.
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Graphic: http://link.reuters.com/faq58m
Column:[]
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(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York and David
Turner in London; Editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)
