* China's implied oil demand 2nd-highest on record in Feb
* China monetary tightening not over
* Coming Up: U.S. retail sales for February; 1330 GMT
(Recasts lead, adds comment, updates prices)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, March 11 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell to below
$115 on Friday on easing fears of unrest spreading in Saudi
Arabia, the world's top exporter, as a quite start to the
planned "day of rage" pushed prices down.
ICE April Brent crude fell 55 cents to $114.88 at
0605 GMT. It touched a 2-1/2-year high of $119.79 a barrel on
Feb. 24 as unrest flared in Libya disrupting oil output.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. crude for April
delivery fell 79 cents to $101.91, after briefly falling
by more than $1.
"We are getting a much needed correction, unless this day of
rage really explodes, the momentum is on the downside," said
Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.
"I think it's gone a little bit too far. Eventually it
should go to $90 for WTI and $100 for Brent."
Investors were waiting to see signs of unrest in the world's
top oil exporter that mirror events in North Africa.
Saudi police fired in the air to disperse protesting
Shi'ites on Thursday, and three people were injured in the melee
on the eve of a "Day of Rage" called for on social media,
witnesses and activists said.
The unrest in the Middle East is taking precedence over
economic woes. Friday protests are also planned in other Gulf
countries such as Yemen, Kuwait and Bahrain, after the day's
religious prayers, inspired by upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt.
The influence of Libya's conflict on the oil market would
probably diminish in coming days because traders had discounted
the loss production from what used to be the world's
12th-largest oil exporter, ANZ's Lim said.
"It's likely that Saudi Arabia will take centre stage," said
Serene Lim, an oil analyst at ANZ in Singapore. "It's a foregone
conclusion that Libya is in a state of civil war."
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have entered
the oil port of Ras Lanuf in the east of the country and are
fighting insurgents for control of the town, rebels said on
Friday.
Libyan rebels have lost momentum and are not likely to
dislodge Muammar Gaddafi from power, top U.S. intelligence
officials said on Thursday as Washington backed further away
from military action.
Gaddafi's son told rebels they faced a full-scale assault to
crush their three-week-old uprising as forces intensified their
counter-attack on the insurgent heartland, bombarding rebel
positions in the oil port of Ras Lanuf and Brega, another
rebel-held oil hub further east.
"As other countries, e.g. Iraq and Iran have shown, (oil)
operations are usually resilient against all but the most
devastating attacks and some resumption of output and processing
is likely once the conflict leaves the locality of the
facilities," said JP Morgan analysts headed by Lawrence Eagles.
IMPACT ON ECONOMIES
Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Friday oil
price rises are likely to have a substantial negative impact on
global economy.
Euro zone leaders are set to agree a "competitiveness pact"
at a summit on Friday and will push Portugal to announce new
reforms to boost market confidence as they seek to draw a line
under the debt crisis.
Although unrest in the Middle East is adding a fear premium
to prompt spot U.S. crude, there appears to be no end to a
contango that has existed for over two years.
And rising oil prices seem to be having a limited effect on
consumption in China.
China's refineries processed crude at a record rate in
February, official data showed on Friday, as the world's
second-largest oil consumer churned out more fuel to power
irrigation work in drought-hit areas.
China's implied oil demand increased 10.3 percent from a
year earlier to 9.54 million barrel per day in February, the
second highest on record, Reuters calculations showed based on
official data on Friday.
Eyes will also be on the impact of China's fight against
inflation, with data published on Friday lending credence to the
view that it is more than midway through a sustained campaign of
monetary tightening launched nearly half a year
ago.
