* Oil bounces off lows
* U.S. plans for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac help calm markets
* Iran, Brazil strike in focus
(Updates prices)
By Santosh Menon
LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Oil steadied near $145 a barrel
on Monday as a U.S. plan to restore confidence in its financial
sector shored up the dollar and financial markets, with worries
about threats to supplies providing support.
The U.S. government at the weekend unveiled an emergency
plan to shore up embattled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac -- which control $5 trillion in debt -- easing
concerns about the wider economy and helping the dollar rally
from a near-record against the euro. []
U.S. light crude for August delivery <CLc1> was 36 cents
down at $144.72 a barrel by 1348 GMT. London Brent crude <LCOc1>
was 39 cents down at $144.10.
"Once again we are back into those phases where the economic
news is going to lead it. The market has decided that supply is
going to be tight," said Simon Wardell of Global Insight.
Gerard Burg, a commodities analyst from the National
Australian Bank in Melbourne, said: "Oil's fall this morning is
generally due to gains in the U.S. dollar as well as some
profit-taking in the market."
U.S. crude hit a record high of $147.27 last Friday, as
concerns about threats to global oil supplies and a
deteriorating U.S. economic landscape hit financial markets,
driving investors to seek the relative safety of commodities.
Oil initially fell by more than $2.50 on Monday, but pared
those losses as Brazilian oil workers began a five-day strike,
once again highlighting supply fears in a tight market.
Traders were also on the watch for any news of supply
disruptions from Nigeria, where militants abandoned a ceasefire,
and from Iran amid tensions with Israel and the west.
SUPPLY FEARS
Oil prices have risen sevenfold since 2002 on surging demand
from China and other emerging markets, and have jumped 50
percent this year alone, battering the economies of consumer
nations already hit hard by the global credit crunch.
Supply concerns again came to the fore as Brazilian oil
workers at the national energy giant Petrobas <PETR4.SA><PBR.N>
began a planned five-day strike at the country's key fields in
the Campos basin at midnight on Sunday. []
Campos accounts for more than 80 percent of Brazil's crude
output of 1.8 million barrels per day.
"There are a lot more upside risks to prices in the short
term, especially tension between Iran and Israel," said Ryuichi
Sato, an analyst at Mizuho Corporate Bank in Tokyo.
Missile tests last week by Iran have left the oil markets
worried about a potential supply disruption from the world's No.
4 exporter.
In Nigeria, the main militant group in the oil-producing
Niger Delta said last week it was abandoning a ceasefire to
protest against a British offer to help tackle lawlessness.
Oil shipments from the world's eighth biggest exporter have
fallen by a fifth since 2006 due to violence in the Niger delta.
(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by James Jukwey)
