* Oil drops as Hurricane Bertha set to miss U.S. Gulf
* Dollar gains as U.S. central bank soothes market
* Focus to shift to U.S. inventory data
(Update prices, adds quotes)
By Ikuko Kao
LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Oil tumbled to below $137 on
Tuesday, dropping by about $9 this week, as the dollar gained
and concern eased over an Atlantic hurricane.
U.S. light crude <CLc1> fell more than $5 to as low as
$136.00 a barrel, the lowest since June 26. It was trading $4.37
lower at $137.00 by 1416 GMT.
London Brent crude was trading $4.51 down at $137.36.
Oil has fallen from a record high of $145.85 hit last week.
Hurricane Bertha became a "major" hurricane on Monday, but
none of the computer models used to predict storm tracks
indicated it would steer toward the Gulf, the focus of the U.S.
oil and gas industry.
With the onset of the Atlantic hurricane season this year,
oil traders will be watching for any signs of a storm that could
disrupt Gulf oil production and refining operations.
"It seems the tone is easing for now and the hurricane is
gone," a broker said.
The broker added the gain in the dollar triggered technical
sales due to a lack of fresh news related to oil supply and
demand.
The dollar rebounded from earlier losses on Tuesday after
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank
may keep an emergency lending facility open beyond the end of
the year for big Wall Street firms. []
But analysts said the market focus would shift later this
week to U.S. weekly oil statistics and a monthly report from the
International Energy Agency (IEA), which will give a fresh look
at the demand-supply situation amid a slowing world economy.
"We have U.S. weekly stats tomorrow and the IEA report comes
up a day after," said Mike Wittner, the head of oil research
with Societe Generale.
"Also in a short term, negative impact may be refining
margins. Margins are weaker now and that means oil refiners are
not rushing to buy crude oil." <OILARB>
The weekly U.S. oil inventory data, which will include
gasoline demand during the long weekend for the July 4
Independence Day holiday, will be released on Wednesday.
A Reuters preliminary poll shows analysts expect a 1.5
million barrel decline in crude stocks, a rise of 200,000
barrels in gasoline supplies and an increase of 1.8 million
barrels in distillates. []
Refining margins, or profit levels for oil refiners from
producing products have weakened recently as prices of fuels
such as gasoline and gas oil have not kept up with the sharp
rise in crude oil prices.
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon in Seoul; editing by James
Jukwey)
