* Egypt's unrest rattles markets, sends oil soaring
* U.S. growth, consumer spending speeds up in Q4
* Brent/U.S. crude spread narrows from 2-year peak
* Coming Up: CFTC positions data, 3:30 p.m. EST Friday
(Updates throughout, recasts)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Brent oil closed in on $100 a
barrel and U.S. crude surged 4 percent on Friday as unrest in
Egypt rattled markets.
U.S. oil found early strength from data showing the U.S.
economy gathered speed in the fourth quarter to regain its
precession peak, narrowing the discount to Brent crude after it
touched a two-year high. []
President Hosni Mubarak sent troops and armoured cars onto
the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities on Friday in an
attempt to quell street fighting and mass protests demanding an
end to his 30-year rule. []
"Whenever you have violence in the Middle East, you have
(traders) buying on risk," said analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov at
VTB Capital in London.
In London, ICE Brent crude for March <LCOc1> rose $2.13 to
$99.52 a barrel at 2:11 p.m. EST (1911 GMT), having earlier
touched $99.74, the highest level since Oct. 2008 right after
the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Contracts for May Brent and
other future months further out on the curve topped $100 a
barrel.
U.S. crude oil for March delivery <CLc1> rose $3.45 to
$89.09 a barrel, with trade volume topping 1.2 million lots by
2 p.m. EST, according to Reuters data, nearing its record 1.432
million lots on April 13.
Total Brent trading volume was above 487,000 lots traded,
according to Reuters data, 27 percent above the 250-day
average.
U.S. oil's gains squeezed Brent's premium over its U.S.
counterpart <CL-LCO1=R> to $10.38, after reaching a two-year
high over $12 per barrel. Large volumes of crude at the
Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S futures have weighed
on the U.S. benchmark this month, while supply concerns have
supported Brent. []
EYES ON EGYPT
Stocks around the world fell and the dollar gained on
Friday as images of street battles in Egypt riveted investors
and raised concerns the protests will intensify and spread
across the Middle East. []
Despite the unrest, the Suez Canal has been operating
normally over the past three days amid growing unrest in Egypt,
and the transit schedule for Saturday shows no delays, a
shipping source said. []
"There is growing concern about the situation in Egypt and
Yemen and there may be worry about not going into the weekend
being too short," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research
in Chicago.
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York and
Christopher Johnson and Emma Farge in London; Editing by
Marguerita Choy)
