* Oil nears $115 as lower dollar spurs buying interest
* Analysts expect gasoline stocks drawdown, poll shows
* Venezuela eyes OPEC output cuts to curb further price
falls
(Updates prices, adds Statoil outage)
By Seng Li Peng
SINGAPORE, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices extended gains to
$115 a barrel on Wednesday, after a lower U.S. dollar rekindled
buying in oil and other commodities.
U.S. crude <CLc1> climbed 47 cents to $115 a barrel at 0823
GMT, rising for a second day, after prices had slid about 22
percent from the record peak of $147.27 a barrel in mid-July.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 34 cents to $113.59 a
barrel.
"There could be further upside, but it will not be that
much because of the poor economic outlook (in the West)," said
Gerard Rigby of Fuel First Consulting in Sydney.
The dollar steadied on Wednesday, but was off a seven-month
high as concerns about the U.S. financial system weighed on
sentiment for the greenback. []
Eyes were also on the upcoming weekly U.S. oil products
data to be released by the Energy Information Administration
later on Wednesday.
On average, the expanded poll called for a 800,000-barrel
increase in crude stocks, while gasoline stocks were forecast
to show a 2.7 million-barrel fall, down for the fourth-straight
week. []
Prices are unlikely to go below $100 a barrel in the short
term because robust demand for crude oil in China and India
will help offset bearish sentiment in the West, Rigby said.
However, Chinese demand for diesel and gasoline is set to
fall from its surge in recent months ahead of the Olympics.
PetroChina and Sinopec Corp will halt diesel imports next
month, having bought more than half a million tonnes for for
August.
OPEC-member Venezuela will be proposing an oil production
cut at the next meeting of the oil cartel in September if
prices continue to fall, energy minister Rafael Ramirez told
Reuters on Tuesday.
"That is why we won't see prices falling below $112 a
barrel," Rigby said.
Political upheaval in producer countries and the threat of
bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico would continue to underpin
crude markets.
Unrest in Nigeria would cushion any dramatic fall in
prices, as the deteriorating security situation in the Niger
Delta has shut a fifth of its 2 million barrels per day (bpd)
oil capacity.
Worries over supplies also came after StatoilHydro said it
discovered a small gas leak in a pipeline between the
Kvitebjoern platform in the North Sea and the onshore Kollsnes
gas processing facility, which will reduce oil production. But
gas customers will not be affected by the leakage, it added.
(Editing by Ramthan Hussain)
