* Energy companies restore Gulf of Mexico operations
* EIA revises 2010 global oil demand up
* IEA forecasts energy demand up 1.5 pct/year through 2030
* U.S. oil inventories seen up slightly - Reuters poll
(Updates throughout, changes dateline from LONDON)
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than $1
to $78 a barrel on Tuesday as the dollar firmed and energy
companies began restoring offshore operations disrupted by
Tropical Storm Ida.
U.S crude for December delivery <CLc1> traded down $1.25
to $78.18 a barrel by 12:50 p.m. (1750 GMT). London Brent crude
<LCOc1> dropped $1.11 to $76.66 a barrel.
"Crude pulled back from its highs because the dollar
bounced a bit and there was no sizzle after the Ida fizzle,"
said Andrew Lebow, broker at MF Global in New York.
Oil and natural gas companies operating in the Gulf of
Mexico began returning workers evacuated ahead of Tropical
Storm Ida and restoring shuttered output and ports.
[]
Ida, which churned up to a category 2 hurricane earlier
this week, weakened into a topical depression on Tuesday after
coming ashore in Alabama. []
The storm shut in nearly 30 percent of U.S. production in
the Gulf of Mexico and 27.5 percent of the region's natural gas
output on Monday, according to government figures. (For a
factbox on operations, click [] )
Disruptions in the Gulf, home to about 25 percent of U.S.
domestic oil production and 14 percent of gas output, helped
push crude prices up more than 2 percent on Monday.
U.S. oil markets have dropped from record highs near $150 a
barrel to below $33 a barrel in December as the global
recession hit energy demand.
Traders have looked to wider macro-economic data and
equities markets for signs of an economic recovery that could
bolster crude demand. Pressure on crude prices also came as the
dollar firmed off a 15-month low, as investors pulled money out
of equities and crude and into safer havens. [] []
The U.S. Energy Information Administration revised its
forecast for 2010 crude oil demand up by 160,000 barrels per
day, but cut its estimate demand slightly for the United
States, the world's largest energy consumer. []
In its annual World Energy Outlook published on Tuesday,
the International Energy Agency forecast a 1.5 percent rise in
primary energy demand globally every year until 2030, and
called for $26 trillion in investment to meet the expected
demand. []
Markets were also awaiting weekly U.S. oil inventory data
from the American Petroleum Institute, due out at 4:30 p.m. EST
(2130 GMT) on Tuesday. The weekly EIA inventory report will be
released a day late on Thursday due to the U.S. Veteran's Day
holiday.
Analysts forecast the data will show a slight rise in U.S.
crude oil inventories last week due to higher imports,
according to analysts polled by Reuters. []
(Reporting by Matthew Robinson and Robert Gibbons in New York;
Christopher Baldwin in London and Felicia Loo in Singapore;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
