* Market focuses on Hurricane Ike
* Fears of storm damage on U.S. oil output resurface
* Saudi Arabia's reticence to cut production
(Updates prices)
By Felicia Loo
SINGAPORE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Oil prices recovered to
above $101 a barrel on Friday, as the markets kept a watchful
eye on the path of Hurricane Ike that could disrupt refineries
and production in the United States for weeks.
U.S. crude for October delivery <CLc1> rose 65 cents to
$101.52 a barrel by 0641 GMT, having settled down $1.71 a
barrel on Thursday. Prices have fallen to $100.10 on Thursday,
the lowest level since early April.
London Brent <LCOc1> gained 50 cents to $98.14 a barrel,
after dropping to a six-month low of $96.99 the previous day.
"This is a small price correction following heavy falls in
recent days," said David Moore, a commodity strategist at
Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
Prices had fallen toward $100 on Thursday amid soft global
energy demand. A report that Saudi Arabia had no plans to cut
output, despite OPEC's agreement this week to trim supply, also
undermined prices. []
But losses were reversed by Hurricane Ike, which nearly
paralysed a quarter of U.S. crude oil production and more than
16 percent of its refining capacity.
Oil markets continued to keep a careful eye on the storm,
Moore said earlier in a daily note.
The storm menaced Houston, the fourth-most populous U.S.
city and hub of the oil industry, sparking worries of fuel
shortages and the damage could leave some coastal refineries
shut for weeks.
Ike was a Category 2 storm with 100 mph (160 kph) winds and
will likely come ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday as
a dangerous Category 3 storm on the five-step intensity scale
with winds of more than 111 mph (178 kph), the National
Hurricane Center said. []
WEAK GLOBAL ECONOMY
The U.S. energy sector has been forced to evacuate workers
and batten down refineries at least four times so far this
summer due to storms that have pushed into the Gulf of Mexico,
starting with Hurricane Dolly in mid-July.
Storms this year have cut more than 15 million barrels of
crude oil production, nearly three-quarters of what the United
States consumes in a day, government data show.
The dollar held near a one-year high against the euro on
fears the global economy, especially outside the United States,
would slow down, putting some limit to oil's upside. []
Adding to the soft undercurrent, oil kingpin Saudi Arabia
has no plans to cut oil output at present unless customer
demand falls, Saudi-owned daily Al Hayat said in an unsourced
report on Thursday.
Traders will be looking towards U.S. economic indicators
due out later on Friday including the August Producer Price
Index, August retail sales data and the Economic Cycle Research
Institute's weekly index, to gauge how the economy of the
world's largest oil consumer is faring. []
(Editing by Ramthan Hussain)
