* Dollar firms against other currencies, pressuring oil
* OPEC ministers happy with oil market, no output change
* Alleged rebel attack in Nigeria revives supply concerns
(Updates prices, adds details)
By Joshua Schneyer
NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday as a
stronger dollar offset cold weather in the United States and
Europe and reports of pipeline snags in oil exporters Iraq and
Nigeria.
Producer group OPEC was set to leave output limits
unchanged at a meeting in Angola on Tuesday, officials from the
cartel said, and appeared likely to call for improved
compliance with existing curbs. []
U.S. crude futures for January delivery <CLc1>, which
expired Monday, settled down 89 cents at $72.47 a barrel. The
more actively traded February contract <CLG0> settled down 70
cents at $73.72 a barrel. In London, Brent crude <LCOc1> was
down 76 cents at $72.99.
Oil trading was thin during a holiday-shortened week and
ahead of Tuesday's OPEC meeting.
The U.S. dollar firmed to a six week high against the
Japanese yen and stayed near a three-month high against the
euro, as investors bet the U.S. economy may recover faster than
other regions from recession, boosting prospects for U.S.
interest rate hikes in 2010. []
Greece is facing a fiscal crisis that puts the country's
credit-worthiness at risk and has shaken investor confidence in
euro zone economies. []
Oil prices have often fallen this year when the dollar
firms, making crude more costly for holders of other
currencies. A stronger dollar can also signal investors plowing
funds into safe havens and away from assets considered more
risky, including commodities.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) meets in Luanda, Angola, to discuss production policy,
but officials from the group plan no change to production
targets and are satisfied with prices in their current range.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters in
Luanda on Monday that the group did not need to change output
targets since the state of the oil market is "very good" and
the world economy is growing gradually but steadily.
Iranian troops partly withdrew from a disputed oil area in
Iraq over the weekend, reducing tensions between two major
crude exporters that had helped to boost oil prices by 1
percent on Friday. []
Oil prices fell after they had risen earlier on Monday,
pushed up in part by colder-than-normal temperatures in the
U.S. Northeast and Europe, which were likely to boost demand
for heating oil.
Pipeline Concerns
Nigerian militants said on Saturday they had carried out
their first attack on an oil pipeline since the government
offered them amnesty in October ahead of peace talks, which
have faced delays. The alleged attack on a Royal Dutch Shell
pipeline was not immediately confirmed. [].
An Iraqi pipeline linking Kirkuk to Turkey's Ceyhan port
stopped shipping its typical daily volume of 500,000 barrels of
crude late Saturday. Iraqi officials said they suspected
sabotage of the pipeline, which was unlikely to resume
shipments until later this week. []
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Matthew Robinson
in New York, David Sheppard in London and Osamu Tsukimori in
Tokyo; editing by Jim Marshall)
