* Oil price rises, market watches storm Dolly
* Iran tensions continue to support
(Updates prices, previous SINGAPORE)
LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Oil rose a dollar on Tuesday,
supported by a storm heading to the southwest United States, but
analysts said it was still too early to say whether last week's
record price slide was over.
Tropical Storm Dolly looked likely to miss major offshore
U.S. oil and gas installations, easing fears of supply
disruptions from the first big storm threat of 2008.
But forecasters still expected it to grow into a hurricane
before hitting land near the Mexican border and said it could
threaten some coastal refineries later in the week.
[]
"Barring a veer north, the risks of an oil price disturbing
event are low," Citi analysts said in a research note.
U.S. light crude for August delivery <CLc1> rose 99 cents to
$132.03 a barrel by 0823 GMT, after gaining more than $3 a
barrel on concerns over Dolly in the previous session. London
Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.03 to trade at $133.64.
Growing worries over the health of the U.S. economy led last
week to the largest oil price fall ever in dollar terms, sending
crude down more than 12 percent from the July 11 high of over
$147.
Simon Wardell of Global Insight in London said it was still
not clear whether the slide was finished, or whether a falling
market was just pausing before driving prices further down.
"It did fall an awfully long way so some people may be
putting more money in," he said. "It might be a pause, it might
be a part of a rebound.
"It's probably a question of holding right now until some
data comes out. If the U.S. inventory data looks a lot better
again then I think there's a chance that prices could come down
further."
A Reuters poll of analysts ahead of Wednesday's weekly U.S.
government inventory data forecast it would show crude stocks
fell by 500,000 barrels, after unexpectedly rising 3.0 million
barrels in the previous week. []
"Last week the forecast was also for a fall, but we had a
big, big build," said Tony Nunan, risk management executive at
Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.
IRAN
Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari, reiterating his
view the market was well supplied, said there would be no need
for a cut in OPEC output when the group meets in Sept 9 ahead of
northern hemisphere winter demand. []
OPEC sources also told Reuters the group will hold a further
meeting on Dec 17 in Algiers.
Tensions over Iran's nuclear enrichment programme also
continued to lend support.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on
Monday that it faced more sanctions if it defied a two-week
deadline to agree to curb its nuclear programme. []
Major powers on the weekend gave Iran two weeks to answer
calls to rein in its nuclear programme or face tougher
sanctions.
China, the world's No. 2 oil consumer, in June posted only a
modest 3.2 percent increase in imports of crude oil, but it
bought record amounts of diesel, the General Administration of
Customs said, confirming earlier data. []
(Reporting by Peter Graff in London and Annika Breidthardt
in Singapore, editing by William Hardy)
