* EIA: U.S. gasoline stocks up, hit 20-year high
* EIA: U.S. crude stocks rise less than expected
* Continuing Egypt unrest supports Brent above $100
* Coming up: OPEC, IEA monthly oil reports Thursday
(Updates prices)
By Gene Ramos
NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose near $102 a
barrel on Wednesday as unrest in Egypt kept investors worried
about potential supply disruptions, while rising U.S.
inventories weighed on U.S. oil prices.
U.S. government data showed domestic crude inventories rose
1.9 million barrels last week to 345.1 million barrels, less
than analyst expectations for a rise of 2.4 million barrels,
while gasoline inventories hit a 20-year high. ]EIA/S"
The inventory builds helped push Brent's premium against
the U.S. crude futures to a fresh record above $15 a barrel,
surpassing the previous high of $13.06 hit on Tuesday.
<CL-LCO1=R>
U.S. crude for March delivery <CLH1> traded down 15 cents
at $86.79 a barrel by 1:55 p.m. EST (1855 GMT). In London, ICE
March Brent <LCOH1> rose $2.05 to $101.97 a barrel, after
earlier extending the day's high to $102.13.
In Egypt, protest organizers were working on a plan to move
on to the state radio and television building on Friday, the
day of the next big scheduled demonstration demanding that
President Hosni Mubarak step down. []
The protests have stirred concerns about oil supplies due
to the possibility that unrest could spread to oil producing
countries in the Middle East, although the shipments through
the Suez Canal have not been affected.
"Brent is still reflecting the market concern about Egypt
and the Suez Canal," said Tony Nunan, assistant general manager
with Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo. "Oil supply to Europe via the
canal would have more impact than to the U.S."
HIGH INVENTORIES, LOW DEMAND
Weekly U.S. inventory data increased the bearish tone for
U.S. oil futures, with a report from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration showing gasoline stocks in the week
to Feb. 4 hitting 240.9 million barrels, the highest level
since March 16, 1990. []
The build came as gasoline demand over the past four weeks
fell by 0.3 percent compared with a year ago, while distillate
demand was off 0.1 percent.
"Overall, this data is bearish and the entire U.S. energy
market is fundamentally weak," said Bill O'Grady, chief
investment strategist at Confluence Investment Management in
St. Louis, Missouri.
The oil market was also weighing comments from U.S. Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who reinforced expectations that
the Fed would push ahead with its massive government debt
buying stimulus program as unemployment remained high.
[]
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York, Ikuko
Kurahone in London and Seng Li Ping in Singapore; Editing by
Walter Bagley)
