* Oil recovers to near $146 a barrel after early dip
* Euro rises to record high against the dollar
* OPEC sees world oil demand slowing in 2008 and 2009
(Updates prices, adds detail)
By Alex Lawler
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Oil rose to near $146 a barrel
on Tuesday, rebounding after an earlier dip prompted by the
restart of some production in major African oil exporter
Nigeria.
Concern about the dispute between Iran and the West over
Tehran's nuclear work, a weakening U.S. dollar and a gathering
storm in the Atlantic supported prices -- as did a bullish
picture based on past price moves.
"Technically, the recovery towards the end of last week and
the strength we saw yesterday still keeps the bull trend very
much intact," said Christopher Bellew, a broker at Bache
Commodities.
U.S. crude <CLc1> was up 99 cents at $146.17 a barrel by 1121
GMT, within sight of its all-time high of $147.27 hit last week.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was up $1.08 at $145.
OPEC cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2008
for a fourth time this year and said consumption would slow in
2009, signalling a more comfortable supply and demand balance.
The 13-member group, source of two in every five barrels of
oil, also said the need for its oil in 2009 would post the first
significant decline since 2002 due to slower world demand and
rising supply from non-member countries. []
Oil eased earlier in the session as Chevron <CVX.N> said
production has been restored at the 120,000-barrel per day
Escravos pipeline in Nigeria, resolving one of the disruptions
that have cut the country's supply.
Traders were also keeping watch on an oil workers' strike in
Brazil which started on Monday. State-run energy firm Petrobras
<PETR4.SA><PBR.N> said it had already reversed most of the
production losses on its platforms.
Crude has risen from $20 a barrel in January 2002 on growing
demand from nations like China and rising cash inflows into
commodities from investors seeking to hedge against inflation
and the weak dollar.
The euro hit a three-month high versus a broadly weaker
dollar on Tuesday and investors said renewed weakness in the
U.S. currency could support oil. []
"The financial crisis is not over, we are not optimistic,
the dollar should get weaker and we should see more investor
money turn to commodities and energy," said Tetsu Emori, fund
manager at Astmax Co Ltd in Tokyo.
STORM WATCH
Traders were also keeping watch on a low-pressure weather
system about 1,200 miles (1,931 km) east of the Lesser Antilles
which may develop into a tropical depression.
Energy traders watch for storms that could enter the Gulf of
Mexico and threaten U.S. oil and gas production facilities.
The latest snapshot of supply in the United States, the
world's top oil consumer, due for release on Wednesday, will
provide direction for prices later in the week.
A Reuters poll forecast that U.S. crude stocks fell 1.2
million barrels, gasoline inventories dropped 300,000 barrels
while distillates rose by 1.9 million barrels.
(Additional reporting by Luke Pachymuthu, editing by Anthony
Barker)
