* BP CEO Hayward to sept down in within 10 weeks -paper
* Coming Up: EIA U.S. oil inventory, demand report; 1430
GMT
* For a technical view, click: []
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, July 21 (Reuters) - Oil held steady near $77.50
on Wednesday, as rising stock markets and a forming Atlantic
storm countered mixed U.S. inventories and disappointing
housing data.
U.S. crude for September <CLc1>, the front month-contract
after Tuesday's expiry of August, rose 5 cents to $77.63 a
barrel at 0304 GMT. ICE Brent <LCOc1> added 4 cents to $76.26.
Asian equities rose on Wednesday, with Indonesia's
benchmark index at a record high, on the back of Wall Street
gains prompted by speculation that Fed Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke may suggest steps to spur lending in testimony to U.S.
lawmakers later in the day. [] []
But the price signals for the physical oil markets was at
loggerheads with the upbeat equity outlook.
U.S. crude inventories fell a smaller-than-expected 241,000
barrels in the week to July 16, according to weekly industry
data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) published late
on Tuesday.
"U.S. products demand is still relatively week," said
Serene Lim, a Singapore-based oil analyst at ANZ.
Government statistics expected to show the nation's crude
stockpiles dropped by 1.4 million barrels will follow from the
Energy Information Administration at 1430 GMT.
For distillate fuels including heating oil and diesel, the
average forecast was for an increase of 1.7 million barrels,
extending gains to the eighth straight week, a Reuters poll
showed. For gasoline, stocks could have risen 900,000 barrels.
That would be the fourth consecutive week stocks have
increased. []
On a possibly more bullish note, the U.S. National
Hurricane Center expected a tropical storm to form near Puerto
Rico within the next two days with a potential track towards
the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
A tropical wave centered between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola
had a 60 percent chance of turning into a tropical depression
or a tropical storm within 48 hours, the Miami-based hurricane
center said late on Tuesday.
The center has forecast this year's Atlantic storm season
may be the most intense since 2005, when hurricanes Katrina and
Rita nearly paralysed U.S. oil output and refining along the
Gulf coast.
"Investors have been pricing in this potential storm
threat, and the market has been helped by U.S. equities. The
earnings season seems favourable, except for a few
disappointments from Goldman and IBM," Lim said.
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 on Tuesday. Data showing U.S. housing starts fell
more than expected in June to the lowest level in eight months
had also dampened markets earlier.
Oil prices have been stuck in a range between $71 and $80
for more than six weeks, squeezed by a crude market that is
slowly tightening and weaker U.S. and Chinese macroeconmic
indicators.
BP Plc <BP.L> <BP.N> Chief Executive Tony Hayward is to
step down within the next 10 weeks, The Times of London
reported on Wednesday. A BP spokesman denied the report.
[]
(Editing by Ed Lane)
