UPDATE 2-Oil rises above $68 ahead of OPEC, inventory data

                                
 * Oil ticks higher, investors sidelined ahead of OPEC meet
                                
 * OPEC minister says producers, consumers happy with prices
                                
 * Delayed US inventory data eyed later in week
 (Adds details, quotes)
                                
 By Nick Trevethan
                                
 SINGAPORE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose above $68 a
barrel on Tuesday with investors perched on the fence ahead of
an OPEC meeting on Wednesday, which analysts believe may see
more rhetoric on compliance but no change in output targets.
                                
 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
meets in Vienna on Wednesday, with most analysts expecting the
producer group, the source of more than a third of the world's
oil supply, to maintain its official output target stable
around $70. [O/POLL]
                                
 "The market is looking for reasons to sell oil, and after
the OPEC meeting might be a decent excuse. People are worried
by under-compliance, the disappointing U.S driving season,
anaemic demand and high stock levels," ANZ's senior commodities
analyst Mark Pervan said.
                                
 "That's not a positive scenario for oil and near term,
investors will want to take a lighter position. Direction after
that will continue to to come from equities."
                                
 NYMEX crude for October delivery <CLc1> stood at $68.33 a
barrel by 0340 GMT, up 31 cents from Friday's close. There was
no settlement price on Monday because NYMEX was closed for the
U.S. Labor Day holiday. [ID:nSYD480373]
                                
 London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 44 cents to $66.97 a
barrel.
                                
 Crude prices, although up 50 percent so far this year, are
still less than half their peak struck in July 2008, and
consumers and producers are happy with that, Saudi Arabia's oil
minister Ali al-Naimi said on Tuesday. [ID:nSGE000099]
                                
 Naimi described the oil market as "steady and in good
shape," although when asked if oil inventories were too high,
said "Yes, they are a little bit."
                                
 But compliance with output targets remains an issue, a
trader in Singapore noted, adding that the organisation could
step up calls to heed quotas from its more wayward members.
 "Compliance, or rather the lack of it, is a problem for OPEC.
They need to bring some of the over-producers back in line and
that's what this meeting will be about," ANZ's Pervan said.
                                
 He added: "Compliance is pretty lax. They will push for a
much greater degree. It really needs to rise from mid-70
percent to a high 80 percent. Russia tweaking up output is
probably not helping prices either."
                                
 For a preview of the OPEC meeting, click on [ID:nL468999]
                                
 For graphics on OPEC compliance and output cuts, click:
 http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/099/CMD_OPCMPL0909.gif
 http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/099/CMD_OPEC0909.gif
                                
 Oil prices, which fell 6.5 percent last week, have been
trading in a range between $65 and $75 a barrel since the start
of August, with prices swinging on economic data as investors
seek clues about the speed of a recovery from the recession.
                                
 Investors will be on watch for inventory data -- delayed by
a day this week due to Monday's holiday.
                                
 The American Petroleum Institute's petroleum stocks report
will be delayed one day to Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 4:30 p.m. EDT
(2030 GMT) and Energy Information Administration snapshot of
crude oil, distillates and gasoline stocks will be pushed out
to Thursday, Sept. 10, at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT).
[ID:nN03118107]
                                
 "The big thing is distillate stocks, which are quite high,"
National Australia Bank's commodities economist Ben Westmore
said.
                                
 "People are assessing economic indicators -- industrial
production and so on to see if the supply overhang will be
redressed any time soon."
                                
 Traders will also keep an eye out as Tropical Storm Fred
formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean on Monday with top winds
of 40 mph (65 kph), but did not immediately threaten any land,
the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. [ID:nN07213729]
 (Editing by Ben Tan)