UPDATE 8-Oil roars to record near $105 on OPEC, US drawdown

                                
 (Adds more EIA details, Bodman comment updates Brent
settlement price Venezuela/Colombia tensions, paragraphs 3, 9,
14, 15)
                                
 By Matthew Robinson
                                
 NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - Oil rallied $5 to a record
near $105 a barrel on Wednesday after OPEC decided to maintain
output levels and government data showed a sharp draw in U.S.
crude inventories.
                                
 U.S. crude futures <CLc1> settled up $5.00 at $104.52 a
barrel, before extending gains to an all time high of $104.95 a
barrel in late trade. London Brent crude <LCOc1> settled $4.12
higher at $101.64 a barrel.
                                
 The gains came after weekly data from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration showed U.S. crude inventories fell
by 3.1 million barrels last week. U.S. gasoline stocks rose to
hit the highest level in 14 years. [EIA/S]
                                
 The crude draw countered analyst forecasts for a build and
heightened supply concerns already stirred by OPEC earlier in
the day.
                                
 "Traders were quick to reestablish long positions in the
market today after OPEC kept production steady and, more
importantly, the crude data showed an unexpected counter-seasonal draw," said Eric Wittenauer, analyst at AG
Edwards in St. Louis.
                                
 OPEC members meeting in Vienna decided to hold  production
levels flat, insisting oil markets are well supplied and
blaming record prices on factors outside the cartel's control,
including speculators and the "mismanagement" of the U.S.
economy. [nL0574090]
                                
 "What's happening in the oil market is due to the
mismanagement of the U.S. economy, which is probably affecting
the rest of the world," said OPEC President Chakib Khelil.
                                
 U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said low inventories were
to the main culprit behind high oil prices.  [nN05623155]
                                
 "They (OPEC members) see speculation in the market. I see a
decline in global inventories and I think that is what's
driving this," Bodman said.
                                
 A day earlier, President George W. Bush criticized the
producer group for its handling of the market.
                                
 "I think it's a mistake to have your biggest customer's
economy to slow down ... as a result of high energy prices,"
Bush said.
                                
 Speculators have piled into oil and other commodities as a
hedge against the weaker dollar and inflation as the U.S.
economy slows due to the credit crunch, the mortgage crisis and
high energy costs.
                                
 Further support for oil prices came from escalating
tensions in South America.
                                
 OPEC nation Venezuela said it deployed tanks and air and
sea forces toward the Colombian border on Wednesday in its
first major military mobilization of a crisis raising fears for
regional stability. [nN04544218]
                                
 The move came after Colombia's weekend raid inside another
South American neighbor, Ecuador, to kill rebels in an
operation that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an ally of
leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, says could spark
war.
                                
 (Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore,
Randy Fabi in Vienna and Ikuko Kao in London; Editing by David
Gregorio)