* Investors cautious ahead of bank repayments to ECB
* Alex seen skirting Gulf of Mexico's main oil production
* For a technical view, click: []
* Coming Up: U.S. API inventory report at 2030 GMT
(Updates detail, comment, prices)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 3
percent to below $76 per barrel on Tuesday as stock markets
tumbled and risk appetite dwindled on renewed worries over euro
zone debt and fiscal problems.
European shares fell towards a three-week low, Shanghai's
equities index <> lost more than 4 percent and Japan's
Nikkei <> was poised for its worst quarter since 2008 as
the dollar rose against the euro <EUR=>. Wall Street fell more
than 1 percent in early trade. [] [] []
A supportive factor for oil was removed as forecasts
indicated Tropical Storm Alex would skirt the main production
region in the Gulf of Mexico, limiting disruption there to a few
precautionary shutdowns. []
U.S. crude for August <CLc1> tumbled as much as $2.62 to a
low of $75.63 per barrel before recovering to around $75.90 by
1330 GMT, extending Monday's 0.77 percent decline.
ICE Brent <LCOc1> fell $2.19 to $75.40.
European banks must repay 442 billion euros ($545.5 billion)
in emergency loans to the ECB on Thursday, leaving a potential
liquidity shortfall of more than 100 billion euros in the
financial system. []
The dollar rose more than 0.5 percent against a basket of
currencies. A stronger dollar makes oil more expensive for many
buyers based in other currencies. <.DXY> []
"It is a return to risk aversion," said Eugen Weinberg, a
commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "Gold <XAU=> is
outperforming other commodities, a sign of a move to safe
havens, and base metals are down on worries over the economy."
"The oil market is no longer worried about Tropical Storm
Alex as it looks like it will avoid oil facilities."
ALEX
The U.S. National Hurricane Center forecast Alex would make
landfall near the Texas-Mexico border early on Thursday. Moving
slowly north-northwest, it is expected to strengthen into the
first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Tuesday.
[]
A tropical storm, where the maximum sustained surface wind
speed is 63-118 km per hour (kph) (39-73 mph), is weaker than a
hurricane, where sustained winds are 119 kph or faster.
Shell <RDSa.L> said it was shutting output from its western
and central Gulf of Mexico assets ahead of Alex. []
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For a factbox on preparations for Alex: []
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Two of Mexico's three main oil exporting terminals stayed
closed on Monday as Alex moved north. The two ports, which ship
more than 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of Mexican crude,
were shut on Sunday as the storm approached. []
"After the concerns on Friday that Tropical Storm (soon to
be Hurricane) Alex might disrupt U.S. Gulf oil production, it
was natural for the market to ease off a little," Philip Wiper,
director of oil brokers PVM, wrote in a note to clients.
"Alex is much further south than had been feared, and
although Mexican oil ports are being temporarily affected, the
impact on oil production is minimal," he added.
U.S. oil inventories are higher than normal, potentially
buffering the impact of weather-related disruptions on output.
Inventories of distillate fuel, a category that includes
heating oil and diesel, probably rose 900,000 barrels last week,
according to a Reuters survey on Monday. []
Crude stockpiles fell by 1.1 million barrels due to a
decline in imports, the preliminary poll showed, while gasoline
supplies may have slipped by 400,000 barrels. []
Industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) releases
inventory data for the week to June 25 on Tuesday at 2030 GMT,
followed by government statistics from the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) on Wednesday at 1430 GMT.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
editing by Sue Thomas)
