* Valero shuts Port Arthur, Texas, refinery FCC
* U.S. Gulf Poseidon Pipeline throughput reduced - sources
* China lifts interest rates for second time in six weeks
* Coming up: API oil data 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT)
(Recasts, updates prices and market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices rebounded on
Tuesday, with Brent crude pushing above $100 a barrel, as
gasoline futures rallied on refinery outages and lifted crude
futures after they had been pressured by China's second
interest rate increase in six weeks.
Bomb attacks shutting a crude pipeline in Colombia and
reduced crude oil flow feeding the Poseidon Pipeline in the
U.S. Gulf of Mexico added lift to crude prices.
Traders and brokers also pointed to Egypt's continuing
political uncertainty, reinforcing concerns about the potential
for supply interruptions, as another factor helping oil prices
shrug off the effect of China's latest move to curb inflation.
The Suez Canal was operating normally and strikes at
companies owned by the Suez Authority did not involve canal
operations, a senior canal official told Reuters.
[]
In London, ICE Brent crude for March <LCOc1> was up 71
cents at $99.96 a barrel at 11:58 a.m. EST (1658 GMT), having
traded from $97.51 to $100.42.
U.S. crude oil for March delivery <CLc1> was 22 cents
higher at $87.70 a barrel, bouncing from an $85.88 low.
Even with the price volatility, Brent's premium to its U.S.
crude counterpart was above $12 a barrel <CL-LCO1=R> and the
spread had widened to $12.69 earlier.
U.S. gasoline futures <RBc1> rose nearly 2 percent, helped
by news that a loss of steam forced Valero Energy Corp <VLO.N>
to shut down a gasoline-making unit at its
287,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The
company said it was not clear when the unit would restart.
[]
This Valero outage followed units being shut at its Aruba
refinery.
More lift for the complex came from news a Gulf of Mexico
oil platform feeding the Poseidon Pipeline was down, reducing
flows on a system that contributes about one-eighth of U.S.
Gulf crude oil output, market sources said Tuesday.
[]
Adding to concerns about supply vulnerabilities, Colombia's
48,000-barrel-per-day Transandino oil pipeline was halted by
two suspected rebel bomb attacks, though exports and production
were affected, according to state-run Ecopetrol <ECO.CN>.
[]
Crude prices on both sides of the Atlantic fell sharply
earlier, after China moved to tame inflation with an interest
rate increase, the second in just over six weeks.
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BREAKINGVIEWS:
-- China tightens too little, too late []
Graphic
-- China rates and inflation http://r.reuters.com/bap87r
Market comments on rate rise []
Analysis on central bank's new clout []
FACTBOX-Who gains from Chinese inflation []
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(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Matthew Robinson in
New York and Zaida Espana in London; Editing by Walter Bagley)
