* Outage at Hovensa refinery lifts gasoline
* Cold weather in Europe, U.S. supports
* Euro falls versus dollar on Irish uncertainty
* Eyes on possible Chinese rate rise, OPEC meeting
* Coming Up: U.S. trade, confidence data due Friday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity to settlement)
By Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) Oil prices rose on Thursday,
snapping two days of losses, as falling claims for U.S. jobless
benefits fed hopes about the economy, while crude also got a
lift as gasoline futures jumped on news of a refinery outage.
U.S. gasoline futures led energy complex gainers, ending up
more than 1 percent after falling the day before on data
showing gasoline stocks rose sharply last week.
Cash market gasoline prices in the New York Harbor jumped
due as the operator of the giant 500,000 barrels per day
Hovensa LLC refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands,
confirmed unscheduled repairs to a gasoline-making unit. The
refinery delivers supplies to the harbor.[]
U.S. crude for January delivery <CLF1> settled up 9 cents
at $88.37 a barrel, in choppy trading. On Tuesday U.S. crude
surged to a 26-month intraday high of $90.76.
U.S. January gasoline <RBF1> ended 3.59 cents higher at
$2.3405 a gallon.
In London, ICE January Brent crude <LCOF1> finished 22
cents higher at $90.99 a barrel.
U.S. data showed the number of first-time claims for
jobless benefits fell more than expected last week and the
four-week average dropped to a two-year low, renewing hopes
for a labor market recovery. []
In late trading, the dollar rose 0.1 percent against a
basket of currencies <.DXY>, helping pare crude's gains.
Earlier, crude got a boost as the dollar extended losses
against the yen and pared gains against the euro as yields on
U.S. Treasuries fell after a well-bid 30-year bond auction.
[]
The euro fell against the dollar on renewed worries about
Ireland's fiscal troubles, as investors waited for a vote on a
rescue package for the debt-strapped country. An Irish
political party had said it would vote against an emergency
European Union bailout for Ireland. []
OPEC MEETING, POTENTIAL CHINA RATE RISE
Oil investors watched for any signs of deviation from
expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Countries would
keep production policy unchanged at a weekend meeting.
OPEC said it wanted an improvement in oil market
fundamentals before increasing crude supplies, even if prices
go to $100 a barrel.
"If it goes to $100 due to speculation, OPEC will not
move," said OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri in Quito,
Ecuador, where the group will meet on Saturday.
On the negative side, supplies of European oil products
mostly rose in November as refinery utilization jumped 8
percentage points, Euroilstock data showed. []
Gas oil stocks held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp oil
hub rose by 3 percent last week despite a cold snap blanketing
western Europe, a report from Dutch oil analyst Pieter Kulsen
also showed. []
Traders were cautious as China is widely expected to raise
interest rates soon to cool its high-flying economy, a move
that should dampen demand in the No. 1 energy consumer.
"We would be cautious going into next week, with the very
real possibility that the Chinese may move on the rate front,"
said Edward Meir, oil analyst at brokers MF Global.
(Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Una Galani in
London; and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by David
Gregorio)
