UPDATE 1-US oil prices up 1 pct, near $89/bbl on Alaska pipeline leak

                                
 * Oil up as much as 2.2 pct on Trans-Alaska pipeline leak
                                
 * Short term supply threat, longer term regulatory risks 
support
                                
 * Technicals point to weaker crude prices 

 (Updates prices)	
                                
 By Nick Trevethan	
                                
 SINGAPORE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Oil retreated from almost 
$90 a barrel on Monday, but still traded 1 percent higher 
after a leak shut an Alaskan pipeline that carries 12 percent 
of U.S. crude output.	
                                
 The Trans Alaska Pipeline was shut down on Saturday after 
a leak at the start of the pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, forcing 
oil companies to cut output to 5 percent of their daily 
average of 630,000 barrels. [ID:nN09207090]	
                                
 The shutdown of one of the key oil arteries in the United 
States sent crude prices leaping early in Asia to a high of 
$89.98 a barrel, as buyers worried about availability in the 
PADD 5 region -- the western United States.	
                                
 "The refineries in PADD 5 might be able to obtain supplies 
from overseas. The longer term implication of such leaks would 
be mounting public scrutiny on the regulation and maintenance 
of oil production and distribution infrastructure," said Chen 
Xin Yi, associate vice president at Barclays Capital in 
Singapore.	
                                
 By 0658 GMT, NYMEX crude for February <CLc1> rose 87 cents 
to $88.90 a  barrel, recovering some of the losses from the 
previous two sessions. Prices easlier rallied almost $2 to 
$89.98  Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 56 cents $93.89.	
                                
 "This adds to what happened in the Gulf of Mexico at a 
time when U.S. regulators are still looking at regulations 
around oil drilling," said Ben Westmore, commodities analyst 
at National Australia Bank. 	
                                
 "Events like this carry risks around future regulation 
that could dramatically reduce supply on a more permanent 
basis than this temporary outage. There is a possibility the 
risk is pretty substantial for the (oil futures) market."	
                                
 For a list of incidents at the pipeline, click 
[ID:nN09209531].	
                                
 Traders said that if the outage lasted longer than a week 
or two, it has the potential to be very bullish. One noted 
that most of the pipeline's previous problems had been fixed 
quickly, but in the post-Deepwater Horizon world, approvals to 
restart after accidents could take longer.	
                                
 The shutdown of the 800-mile (1,280 kilometre) line, which 
runs from the Prudhoe Bay oilfield to the tanker port of 
Valdez, has not yet affected shipments, and tankers are being 
loaded on schedule at Valdez, meaning there is no immediate 
danger of restricted oil supply. Oil produced during the 
shutdown will be stored at Prudhoe Bay until the pipeline 
reopens.	
                                
 Before the weekend, a fire halted production at Canadian 
Natural Resources main oil sands project in northern Alberta.	
                                
 The firm could not say on Friday when its 110,000 barrel a 
day Horizon facility would resume normal operations, though it 
expects to have a repair schedule ready this week. 
[ID:nN07198897]	
                                
 China trade data showed China imported 20.86 million 
tonnes down 0.2 percent from November. For the year, China 
imported 239.31 million tonnes of crude oil, up 17.5 percent 
from 2009.	
                                
 Data before the weekend, namely U.S. non-farm payrolls 
which rose just 103,000 against forecasts of 175,000 unsettled 
the market. But the jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent from 9.8 
percent in November, its lowest in more than 1-1/2 years. 
[ID:nN06134458]	
                                
 "A drop in the unemployment rate to 9.4 percent wasn't 
enough to remove 'risk-off' sentiment in the market. Recent 
U.S. oil futures data showed 'speculative' net long crude 
futures positions were down 5.6%, also suggesting a possible 
bearish turn in sentiment," said ANZ in a note.	
                                
 Money managers sharply cut their net long crude futures 
positions in the week through Jan. 4 from a record level in 
the previous week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission 
said.	
                                
 The speculator group cut their net long positions to 
175,862 from 202,221 positions in the previous week, as NYMEX 
oil futures prices <CLc1> fell from $91.49 a barrel on Dec. 28 
to $89.38 a barrel on Jan. 4.	
                                
 Technically, oil still looked weaker and oil will end the 
current rebound and fall back to Friday's low at $87.25 as a 
downward wave "C" has not been  completed, according to 
Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. [ID:nL3E7CA00U]	
                                
 For a graphic, click:	
                                
 http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20111001083830.jpg	
                                
 	
	
 (Editing by Ed Lane)