* U.S. jobless claims fall, retail sales up
* Dollar hammered by potential QE3, Moody's warning
* Brent pressured by expected oil field restart, eurozone debt woe (Update after U.S. jobs, retail sales data)
By Ikuko Kurahone
London, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. crude ticked up and Brent pared losses in choppy trading on Thursday due to a weak dollar and better-than-expected U.S. jobs and retail data.
By 1318 GMT, U.S. crude for August
August Brent
"Especially in the United States, jobs data and retail data have an impact on oil prices, because the U.S. is the largest oil consumer," Andy Sommer, oil market analyst with EGL, said.
"(The data) is not showing a deteriorating situation. Retail sales were better than expected and jobless claims fell slightly."
New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims dipped to 405,000 in the week ended July 9 from 427,000 the previous week. Economists polled by Reuters had been looking for a smaller decline to 415,000.
Still, the figure has remained above 400,000 for 14 straight weeks, and the number of Americans still receiving unemployment benefits rose slightly in the week.
The dollar fell broadly as Moody's Investors Service jolted White House debt talks on Wednesday with a warning the U.S. might lose its top credit rating in the coming weeks, piling pressure on Washington to lift its debt ceiling.
That followed comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. central bank was ready to ease monetary policy further in what would be a third round of so-called quantitative easing if economic growth and inflation slowed much more.
"The markets remain well supported. Bernanke's comment yesterday alluding to possible QE3 will encourage people to hold commodities if they believe in a weaker dollar," said Mark Thomas, head of energy Europe with brokerage Marex Financial.
BP PLATFORM FIRE
Trade volumes in European benchmark North Sea Brent crude futures were thinner than in U.S. crude ahead of the August contract expiry and because the credit warning dampened investor sentiment in Europe over the United States, the world's largest economy.
The euro zone has already been hit by a spate of downgrades.
EGL's Sommer said Brent was under pressure also because of an expected rise in output from UK's largest Buzzard oilfield after months of underproduction.
However, the premium on Brent crude for August versus the September contract has risen to around $1 a barrel this week as North Sea oil supply might still remain tight due to a shut BP oil platform.
BP halted oil output from the Valhall field in the North Sea on Wednesday after a fire on its production platform forced the evacuation of hundreds of workers, but the company said there was no risk of an oil spill.
Valhall, which has pumped oil since the 1980s, has produced around 31,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2011, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Late in June, the August Brent contract was at a discount to September after the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced plans for the release of 60 million barrels of crude oil and oil products into the market. (Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; editing by Keiron Henderson)