* Oil rises after U.S. oil inventory data
* Crude, gasoline stocks fall more than expected
* U.S. distillates stocks unexpectedly fall
(Recasts with U.S. inventory report, updates prices)
LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Oil rose more than $1 a barrel to
above $114 on Wednesday, extending an earlier gain, after a U.S.
government report showed declines in fuel inventories in the
world's top consumer.
Gasoline stocks fell by 6.4 million barrels, the Energy
Information Administration said, more than the 2.1 million
barrel decline analysts expected. Distillates inventories
unexpectedly fell. []
"Draws are bullish across the board. Lower refinery output
and lower imports led to the draws in the products for the past
week," said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures
Perspective in New York.
U.S. crude <CLc1> rose $1.14 to $114.15 a barrel by 1500
GMT. On Tuesday, it settled $1.44 lower, after falling to
$112.31, the lowest since early May. London Brent <LCOc1> rose
82 cents to $111.97.
Crude oil stocks fell by 400,000 barrels, the EIA said. That
was double the decline analysts had expected.
Some analysts said the report was less supportive for prices
than it looked.
"Even though these numbers look bullish on the surface, the
drop in supplies is probably due to refinery closings and
import disruptions ahead of Tropical Storm Edouard," said Phil
Flynn of Alaron Trading.
Increasing signs of weakening demand as economies slow in
leading consumer markets have weighed on oil, which has fallen
sharply since reaching an all-time high of $147.27 on July 11.
Oil demand in the United States fell by an average 800,000
barrels per day (bpd) year-on-year during the first half,
marking the sharpest fall in 26 years, the EIA said on Tuesday.
[]
A relatively strong dollar, which has risen since the start
of this month as investors see signs of the economic slowdown in
the United States spreading to Europe <.DXY> has also pressured
oil and other commodities.
On the supply side, hostilities between Russia and Georgia,
a key alternative supply route for oil and gas from the Caspian
to Europe, have left the market unmoved.
BP PLC <BP.L> closed an oil pipeline and a natural gas
pipeline running from its Caspian Sea fields through Georgia but
said neither had been damaged.
A third BP pipeline that runs through Georgia, the
Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline pumping Azeri crude, was shut
last week following an explosion in Turkey.
(Additional reporting by Ikuko Kao and Alex Lawler in London
and Chua Baizhen in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)
