* Trans Alaska Pipeline boosting flows towards 500,000 b/d
* Technicals show U.S. crude heading below $90
* Coming Up: IEA oil market report for January
(Updates prices)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures edged
higher on Tuesday after OPEC members signalled the group would
maintain production levels even as prices flirt with $100 a
barrel, while the resumption of shipments through the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline capped price gains.
ICE Brent for March added 32 cents to $97.75 a
barrel at 0736 GMT. The front-month Brent contract on Friday
touched $99.20, the highest price since October 2008.
With the installation of a bypass completed, operators of
the Alaskan line expect to ramp up flows to 500,000 barrels per
day (bpd) by Tuesday, more than a week after a leak forced the
duct's closure. Shipments are set to reach to 640,000 bpd, or
about 12 percent of U.S. output, within days.
"There is no fresh catalyst to boost oil prices further,"
said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based oil analyst at ANZ. "It seems
that $100 is a very huge psychological barrier."
Producers including BP , ConocoPhillips and
Exxon Mobil got permission to resume normal output from
Alaska's North Slope on Monday afternoon after the pipeline
reopened, and will gradually boost volumes over the coming days,
a spokeswoman from operator Alyeska said.
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), an
adviser to 28 industrialised countries, on Monday described the
current oil price as "alarming" and warned it could be damaging
to the world economy.
Still, the United Arab Emirates' oil minister said he was
not concerned by rising prices, echoing comments by Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries producers Iran and
Venezuela this week. Algeria's oil minister also said the oil
market was balanced.
"In their minds, they say that the world oil market remains
well supplied, so they might keep production targets intact for
the time being until prices spike," Lim from ANZ said.
U.S. crude benchmark prices fell 31 cents to $91.23, but
most of that drop came during Monday. The New York Mercantile
Exchange (NYMEX) is combining Monday's and Tuesday's trades into
one session because of the Martin Luther King holiday and will
produce just one settlement after Tuesday's close.
"We view the recent oil price strength as temporary and
mainly driven by below normal temperatures in the Northern
Hemisphere," said Credit Suisse analysts including Stefan
Graber. "As temperatures normalize, we think oil prices may fall
in the weeks ahead."
The spread between the ICE and NYMEX front-month futures
contracts has narrowed since February Brent expired on Friday.
At one point on Friday, the spread between the two February
contracts exceeded $8 a barrel, its widest in 23 months.
Weekly U.S. inventory reports from the American Petroleum
Institute and the Energy Information Administration are usually
delayed by one day to Wednesday and Thursday respectively
whenever a holiday falls on a Monday.
In its monthly report on market conditions, OPEC maintained
the view that consumers have enough oil, blaming the run-up in
prices on the early onset of winter weather and an increase in
investment flows into commodities.
OPEC raised its global oil demand growth forecast by 50,000
barrels per day (bpd) to 1.23 million bpd in 2011, and said the
world oil market remained well supplied and inventories should
build in the first half of the year.
In other markets, the euro was on shaky ground on Tuesday
with no imminent decision in sight on how to beef up the euro
zone's rescue fund, while Asian tech shares outperformed despite
news that Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs is taking medical
leave.
(Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
