* A large drop in U.S. crude inventories pushes up oil
* Nigeria export outages give support
* Focus shifts weekly U.S. government data
(Refiles to fix typo in second reference to analysts' name
in paragraph 8, changes word "export" to "output" in same graf)
(Previous PERTH, updates throughout)
By Ikuko Kao
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $71 a barrel on
Wednesday following a large drop in crude inventories in the
United States, the world's top energy consumer, and output
disruptions from militant attacks in Nigeria.
U.S. crude futures <CLc1> were trading up $1.15 to $71.04 a
barrel by 0908 GMT, having risen to as high as $71.28. London
Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.15 to $70.45.
Weekly oil data from a U.S. industry group released late on
Tuesday helped oil prices to reverse the day's loss, which was
dragged by weak U.S. consumer confidence.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday
a 6.8 million barrel decline in U.S. crude inventories, larger
than analysts' forecast for a drawdown of 2 million barrels.
[] []
"Maybe we have already seen the peaks in the stock levels
and we could start entering a phase where we see a slow
reduction (in stock levels)," Olivier Jakob with Petromatrix
said.
Market focus has now shifted to a separate set of data from
the U.S. government, which is seen as more reliable by
investors, due out later on Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is also
expected to show a fall in crude inventories due to higher
refinery runs ahead of the Independence Day weekend. []
OPEC's policy to keep output cuts intact since last year has
started to be reflected into some statistics and traders would
be watching U.S. crude import volumes in the EIA statistics,
Jakob said.
Export disruptions from Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa's
top oil producer, have also provided support to oil prices.
The recent escalation of civil unrest in Nigeria's oil rich
Delta region has hobbled its output.
On Tuesday, oil major Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> said
attacks by Nigerian militants have cut its output to around half
of what it was producing earlier this year. []
Oil prices, which have tumbled from a record high of over
$147 struck in July last year to the low $30s a barrel at the
turn of the year, have rallied in recent months due mainly to
hopes for economic recovery.
They marked a 42 percent gain in the second quarter -- the
highest quarterly gain since 1990.
U.S. unemployment and housing data, due later on Wednesday,
will also give the next clues on how the world's economies are
faring and have implications for oil demand. []
(Reporting by Fayen Wong in Perth, Emma Farge and Ikuko Kao in
London; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
