* Analysts divided over evidence of demand destruction
* China Q1 inflation, GDP data on Friday in focus
* Coming Up: Weekly U.S. unemployment claims, 1230 GMT
(Recasts throughout, changes dateline to London)
By Nia Williams
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Oil was slightly easier on
Thursday, with Brent crude hovering around $123 a barrel, as a
drop in U.S. gasoline stocks and continuing conflict in Libya
overrode concerns of high prices sparking demand destruction.
On the day commodities giant Glencore <GLEN.UL> unveiled
plans for what could be London's biggest ever IPO, Brent crude
for May <LCOc1> fell 9 cents to $122.79 a barrel by 1028 GMT
while U.S. May crude <CLc1> fell 15 cents to $106.96 a barrel.
U.S. gasoline stocks plunged by 7 million barrels last week
to their lowest level since October as refiners cut processing
rates and cleared inventories of winter-grade fuel, data from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed. []
The significantly higher-than-expected fall was bullish for
crude and helped support prices in a week dominated by talk of
costly oil crimping demand and stifling the nascent global
economic recovery. []
This week the International Energy Agency and Organisation
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries both warned high prices
could dent demand but did not change their global demand
forecasts, and analysts were divided over the impact.
Barclays Capital analysts said in a note it was premature to
suggest signs of destruction were noticeable and the threshold
for a substantial price driven demand reaction was higher than
in 2008.
"Downside risks to oil demand from external factors and from
high oil prices themselves remain, but equally, the struggle in
the Middle East may take a turn for the worse providing further
supply outages," said Barclays Capital analyst Amrita Sen.
"Fundamental demand data have shown few signs of fatigue
just yet, and, thus, in our view, it is too premature to weigh
in on either side of those risks as the determining factor in
the coming weeks."
LIBYA CONFLICT
Libyan rebels are exporting a "minimum amount" of crude from
fields which are pumping around 100,000 barrels per day, way
less than the country's usual production at 1.6 million bpd.
[]
But there is still no clear military strategy to force
Muammar Gaddafi from power and JP Morgan said supply is unlikely
to rise significantly unless a resolution to the conflict is
reached. []
"Until then we expect exports to remain low and fluctuate
widely, as we have seen in the past in conflict areas," analysts
led by Lawrence Eagles said in a note.
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More on Middle East unrest: [] []
Libya Graphics http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
Interactive graphic http://link.reuters.com/puk87r
Glencore IPO in graphics http://r.reuters.com/duj98r
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CHINESE INFLATION CONCERNS
Annual inflation in China, the world's second-largest oil
consumer after the United States, accelerated faster than
expected to between 5.3 and 5.4 percent in March, Hong Kong's
Phoenix TV said, citing an unnamed source. []
China is set to release official first quarter GDP figures
and March consumer price data on Friday.
The reported inflation figure was slightly higher than the
5.2 percent forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and sparked
concerns of a possible further increase in the reserve
requirement for mainland banks to reduce liquidity in the
monetary system. []
Such a move to curb inflation and cool the speed of growth
would be likely to dampen demand and weigh on commodity prices.
The market will also be keeping an eye on U.S. weekly
unemployment claims, scheduled for release at 1230 GMT.
(Additonal reporting by Florence Tan; editing by Keiron
Henderson)
