RTRS:NYMEX-U.S. crude dips, Iran pipe blast curbs loss
* Iran pipeline explosion, fire lifts Brent, supports WTI
* OPEC to meet if prices keep falling - Iran
* Coming up: CFTC positions data, 3:30 p.m. Friday
NEW YORK, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures eased on Friday, but
Brent prices bounced higher, as did refined products futures on news of an
oil pipeline explosion and fire in Iran.
An oil pipeline that exploded in Iran on Friday was of "very average"
size, an oil ministry official said, playing down news reports, which had
called it the biggest in the country. "It has a 40,000 barrels per day
capacity," the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
U.S. crude's slip came a day after prices plunged more than 5 percent
on concerns about stalled U.S. and euro zone economic growth as the
economies deal with a debt crisis and ahead of the closely watched July
nonfarm payrolls report from the United States.
Earlier on Friday, U.S. crude prices fell to their 2011 low of $82.87,
after erasing the year's gains on Thursday.
FUNDAMENTALS
* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September crude fell 47
cents, or 0.5 percent, to $82.87 a barrel by 8:16 a.m. EDT (1216 GMT),
trading from $82.87 to $87.09.
* OPEC oil ministers will meet if prices continue to fall, Iran's OPEC
governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, said on the Oil Ministry news website
SHANA.
* Mexico has begun testing the market for hedging next year's oil
revenues, a government official said on Thursday as a massive options trade
in New York fueled speculation that its annual program has started.
* Taiwan refiner Formosa Petrochemical Corp will store 2
million barrels of Oman crude in South Korea, after a fire that shut its
refinery forced it to defer and divert near-term supply.
* Qatar has raised its July retroactive official selling price (OSP)
for Qatar Marine crude to $110.45 a barrel, up $2.00 from June, a trader
said.
MARKETS
* Copper fell to its lowest in more than a month as investors retreated
from the industrial metal on escalating fears over economic and demand
growth in the United States and the euro zone, both mired in a debt crisis.
* Gold rose as a safe haven from the economic turmoil of the euro debt
crisis and worries over recession in the United States.
* World stocks fell for the eighth straight session on widespread
economic jitters. be prolonged. The Japanese yen and Swiss franc gained
ground as safe haven currencies.
UPCOMING DATA/EVENTS
* U.S. July nonfarm payrolls data at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on
Friday.
* U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission positions data released at
3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) on Friday.
8:16 LAST NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT DAY AGO
CHNG CHNG VOL VOL
CLc1 86.16 -0.47 -0.5% 82.87 87.09 76,207 350,221
CLc2 86.65 -0.39 -0.5% 83.35 87.48 15,187 79,629
LCOc1 108.15 0.90 0.8% 104.30 109.38 118,100 322,548
RBc1 2.7706 0.0334 1.2% 2.6760 2.7895 4,151 64,167
RBc2 2.6559 0.0271 1.0% 2.5657 2.6731 3,716 32,951
HOc1 2.9169 0.0230 0.8% 2.8272 2.9404 7,242 58,247
HOc2 2.9261 0.0213 0.7% 2.8376 2.9502 2,424 17,560
* NYMEX crude oil for September fell 47 cents to $86.16 a barrel by
8:16 a.m. in volume of 76,207 lots.