* Ireland agrees to work with EU-IMF on debt crisis
* Technicals show oil rebound to $82[]
* Coming Up: U.S. weekly initial jobless claims
(Updates prices)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Oil rebounded from four-week
lows on Thursday as a weaker dollar and cautious optimism
about Ireland's debt crisis rekindled interest for
commodities, while a sharp crude inventory decline in top
consumer the United States supported prices.
Front month U.S. crude on Wednesday touched $80.06 a
barrel, the lowest intra-day price since Oct. 20, capping a
four-session drop that knocked off about 8 percent from a
25-month high of $88.63 a week ago amid concerns about
European sovereign debt and a potential increase in Chinese
interest rates.
The December contract <CLc1> on Thursday rose $1.10 to
$81.54 at 0746 GMT. ICE Brent <LCOc1> gained $1.09 to $84.37.
Ireland agreed on Wednesday to work with a European
Union-IMF mission on urgent steps to shore up its shattered
banking sector, a process that could lead to a bailout despite
Dublin's deep reluctance. []
"There is concern about Europe, but markets have already
priced that in quite aggressively in the past few days," said
Mark Pervan, a senior commodities analyst at ANZ in Melbourne.
"This is a bit of a buy-on-the-dip story, with equity
markets giving a reasonable guide in Asia. Inventory data was
put to the side yesterday, but the crude numbers look pretty
good and today's move could be a late response."
U.S. crude stocks plunged the most in more than 14 months
last week as fewer imports and higher refining rates slashed
inventories, according to a weekly government report from the
Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
WTI DISCOUNT WIDENS
Inventories fell unexpectedly by a sharp 7.29 million
barrels to 357.6 million barrels in the week to Nov. 12, while
crude imports fell 226,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7.83
million bpd.
Stocks of oil products also fell, although more closely in
line with analyst expectations. Gasoline fell by 2.66 million
barrels, versus forecasts for an 800,000-barrel draw, while
distillate stocks declined 1.11 million barrels compared with
a projected 2.2 million barrel drop.
But crude inventories at the key Cushing, Oklahoma hub
rose 1.27 million barrels to 33.07 million, depressing the
value of U.S. crude relative to European benchmark Brent.
For a graphic showing the biggest discount since
September:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/AS/0810/ABE_20101811122926.jp
g
Cushing is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile
Exchange's benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
futures.
Stockpiles at Cushing will probably keep rising for the
rest of the year, in line with seasonal norms, according to JP
Morgan oil analyst Sung K. Yoo.
The dollar dipped against the euro on Thursday after
subdued U.S. inflation supported the U.S. Federal Reserve's
case for quantitative easing, while Asian equities stabilised
after an eight-day sell-off. The greenback slid about 0.4
percent against a basket of currencies .
U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected in October
and the increase in the year-on-year core rate was the
smallest on record, data showed on Wednesday.
[]
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
