* China Premier Wen prepares steps to tame price rises
* Euro near 7-wk low vs dollar on Irish woes
* Coming Up: EIA U.S. inventory report; 1530 GMT
(Update prices, Ireland in 15-16th paragraphs)
By Ikuko Kurahone
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $82 a barrel along
with falls in broader markets on Wednesday due to renewed
worries China may hike interest rates to fight inflation.
Feeding into market expectations, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao said his government was preparing steps to tame price
rises, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Tuesday.
[]
U.S. crude oil futures <CLc1> briefly fell more than $1 to
$81.18 a barrel, the lowest intraday-price since Oct. 29, and
they were trading 76 cents lower at $81.58 by 1228 GMT.
ICE Brent crude <LCOc1> was trading 65 cents lower at
$84.08, having touched as low as $83.57.
U.S. crude fell for the fourth day, losing more than 7
percent of its value since it struck a two-year high of $88.63
on Thursday.
"The market has not found support yet. It is the demand side
and questions about the U.S. dollar and China's capacity to
consume energy going forward," said David Taylor, an analyst at
CMC Markets in Sydney.
The tendency of China's central bank to raise interest rates
around the 20th day of the month makes this Friday a "sensitive
window" for a rate rise, an official newspaper said on
Wednesday, citing unnamed analysts. []
China has overtaken the United States to become the world's
largest energy consumer. Any slowdown to the Chinese economy may
lead to a dent in its energy demand, which has been growing
rapidly.
But some market participants said Chinese demand should
still support oil and commodities prices in the long term.
"Anything that acts as a gentle brake on the runaway growth
in China will be a very good thing in the longer term," said
Christopher Bellew with Bache Commodities.
"And if it causes commodity prices to fall, it will only be
the short term."
Bellew added a strong dollar was also weighing on oil prices
in the short term.
The dollar pushed up to near a seven-week high against the
euro on Ireland's debt crisis while high-yielding currencies
suffered. [][]
Risk aversion typically prompts investors to reverse bullish
bets across commodities.
Ireland committed itself on Wednesday to working with a
European Union-IMF mission on urgent steps to help its stricken
banking sector, a process that could lead to a bailout despite
Dublin's deep reluctance.
A team from the European Commission, the International
Monetary Fund and European Central Bank will travel to Ireland
on Thursday to examine what measures may be needed if Dublin
decides to seek aid, euro zone finance ministers said.
[]
Later in the day, the oil market focus will shift to weekly
oil data from the U.S. government.
Analysts in the Reuters poll forecast the data would show a
100,000 barrel increase in the U.S. crude oil stocks in the week
to Nov. 12. []
Late on Tuesday, a separate set of data from the industry
group American Petroleum Institute showed crude oil inventories
declined by 7.7 million barrels in the week. Investors were
holding off ahead of the EIA numbers to see whether the big and
unexpected fall is confirmed.
(Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore and Ikuko
Kurahone in London; editing by Keiron Henderson)
