* Uncertain EU policy continue to rattle investors
* Euro bounces, the world, European stocks dip
* China post record refinery runs, crude import rates
(Previous SINGAPORE, update throughout)
By Ikuko Kurahone
LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell towards $70 a
barrel on Friday, haunted by concerns that Europe's debt crisis
could hurt global economic growth and slow energy demand.
U.S. crude for July delivery <CLc1> was trading 42 cents
lower at $70.38 a barrel by 0915 GMT, having fallen to $69.31
earlier. On Thursday, the expired June contract briefly touched
a nine month low of $64.24 in the largest intraday price range
of around $7 since the end of 2008.
U.S crude has fallen about 20 percent from $87 hit on May 3,
battered by loss of confidence in global markets due to the
crisis in the euro zone triggered by Greek debt problems.
ICE Brent crude futures <LCOc1> fell 24 cents to $71.60 a
barrel.
"The oil market is still in a state of confusion between
actual impact on demand from the eurozone crisis and the bearish
sentiment across currency and equities market and so on," said
Andy Sommer, energy market analyst with EGL in Switzerland.
The ongoing Greek sovereign debt crisis and Germany's
unilateral ban on some speculative trades damped the euro to the
four year low earlier this week.
On Friday, the euro held broad gains, after investors wary
of holding too many short positions following its heavy sell-off
scrambled to take off those trades as fears of currency
intervention rose. []
World stocks as measured by the MSCI All-Country index
<.MIWD00000PUS> were down slightly, having suffered a near
three-percent drop on Thursday, the biggest one-day percentage
fall in a year.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
also fell. []
Germany is set to approve its share of a $1 trillion safety
net for troubled euro zone states later today and European
finance ministers are meeting to discuss changes to budget rules
to prevent another Greek-style debt crisis. []
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For a technical chart, see:
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U.S., CHINESE DEMAND
U.S. crude futures particularly came under further pressure
this week due to record high levels of inventories at Cushing,
Oklahoma, the delivery hub for the underlying oil for the
futures. [] []
On the other hand, EGL's Sommer pointed out some signs of
recovery in broader oil demand. Statistics have shown oil demand
in the United States and China, the world's top two oil
consuming markets, has been relatively strong.
On Wednesday, U.S. government data showed total product
demand over the past 4 weeks was 19.21 million bpd, up 4.8
percent from a year ago. []
China's official data showed country posted record rates
both in refinery output and crude imports in April, following
seven months of double-digit growth in apparent oil demand.
[]
(Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore and Ikuko Kurahone
in London; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
