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Oil heads for weekly gain on central banks' Europe crisis move

Published 09/15/2011, 09:47 PM
Updated 09/15/2011, 09:48 PM
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* November Brent crude heads for 1.3 percent weekly gain

* Oil fundamentals support, Europe crisis weighs -risk manger

* Coming Up: US Reuters/UMich sentiment index Sep; 1355 GMT

By Alejandro Barbajosa

SINGAPORE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Oil was headed for a weekly gain on Friday after central banks launched coordinated action to boost European bank funding, easing concern about falling oil demand from industrialised consumers.

Brent crude gained 11 cents to $112.41 by 0136 GMT, with the November contract up 1.3 percent this week. U.S. crude shed 12 cents to $89.28, up 2.7 percent this week.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will discuss with European finance ministers on Friday the possibility of leveraging the euro zone's bailout fund to make it more effective in fighting the region's debt crisis.

Industrial output in top oil consumer the United States edged higher in August and consumer prices rose more than expected, reinforcing expectations the Federal Reserve will offer only modest stimulus measures.

"Fundamentals don't look too bad for oil, it's just that the macroeconomy has been keeping the market down," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.

"We are still nowhere near out of the woods. They are just barely keeping the economy from falling off a cliff, but there is no structural solution to the European sovereign debt problem."

Major central banks around the world will cooperate to offer three-month U.S. dollar loans to commercial banks in order to prevent money markets from freezing up in the wake of Europe's debt crisis.

Global stocks advanced for a third straight day and the euro rose sharply on Thursday after the move by the central banks.

The euro clung to gains against the greenback on Friday, but the rally is unlikely to last as the Greek debt crisis remains in a critical state.

COORDINATED ACTION

Geithner will hold talks with EU ministers in Poland on Friday and will propose that the European Financial Stability Fund, a 440 billion euro fund set up in May 2010, be used in a similar way to an emergency loan fund created by the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve in 2008 to thaw frozen credit markets, sources said.

New claims for U.S. jobless aid rose unexpectedly last week and factory activity along much of the Eastern seaboard contracted early this month, bolstering the case for more action to support the struggling economy.

The International Energy Agency said on Thursday it was formally ending its release of oil from emergency reserves to help cover a shortfall caused by the loss of Libyan output, deeming the move successful.

Shipments of Forties crude oil are being further delayed due to production shortfalls, trade sources said on Thursday, disrupting more supply of the North Sea crude which usually sets the global Brent benchmark. [ID:nL5E7KF1KM

The premium of European benchmark Brent over U.S. crude marker West Texas Intermediate shrank to below $23 a barrel on Friday from more than $26 a day earlier, after October Brent went off the board on Thursday. It reached a record above $27 on Sept. 6. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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