* Dollar strengthens broadly, weighs on oil * Workers at French top oil port hub remain on strike * Coming up: EIA oil inventory data, 10:30 a.m. EDT Wed NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures prices fell on Wednesday, on track to end a three-day rally as doubts about the size and timing of U.S. economic stimulus pushed up the dollar. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to start quantitative easing to support the economy by announcing a bond-buying program at the next policy meeting of the central bank Nov. 2-3. Also weighing on crude prices was Tuesday's report from the the American Petroleum Institute showing U.S. crude stocks jumped by 6.4 million barrels in the week to Oct. 22, much more than expected. [API/S] Gasoline stocks fell 1.8 million barrels and distillate stocks rose 818,000 barrels, the API said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's inventory report is due at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday. A Reuters survey ahead of the reports yielded a forecast for crude oil stocks to be up 1.1 million barrels, gasoline stockpiles to be up 200,000 barrels and distillate stocks to be down 1.5 million barrels. [EIA/S" FUNDAMENTALS * On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December crude CLZ0 fell 77 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $81.78 a barrel at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT), trading from $81.54 to $82.69. * Workers at France's Fos-Lavera oil hub will continue their strike until a deal is made with management, the local CGT union spokesman said on Wednesday. [ID:nLDE69Q18W] [ID:nLDE69Q0FT] * Workers at Total's (TOTF.PA) La Mede refinery in France voted on Wednesday to end their strike over pension reforms, a CGT union spokesman said. Fuel production would depend on a resumption of crude supplies from the Fos-Lavera oil hub. [ID:nWEA4839] * Workers at Petroplus' (PPHN.VX) Petit Couronne refinery voted on Wednesday to end their strike, a CGT union spokesman said. Fuel would start leaving the refinery depot from Wednesday afternoon, but a restart of production would depend on a resumption of crude supplies from the Le Havre oil terminal, which was still on strike. [ID:nWEA4827] * Nigeria will export more crude oil in December, pushing its sales well over 2.1 million barrels per day and far above its OPEC output target. [ID:nLDE69Q1EM] * The U.S. Commerce Department released seasonally adjusted data on durable goods orders on Wednesday showing orders rose 3.3 percent in September, up after a drop of 1 percent in August and above consensus expectations. But orders fell when transportation equipment was excluded from the data. [ID:nCLARLE669] MARKETS NEWS * Doubts over how aggressively the U.S. Federal Reserve is going to stimulate a flagging recovery with another round of money-printing weighed on world equities and commodities while boosting the dollar. [MKTS/GLOB] * The dollar was pushed up to a two-week high against the yen and a one-week peak versus the euro, which was also impacted by euro zone banks taking up more cheap funding than expected at a three-month ECB tender. [FRX/] * Gold eased towards $1,330 an ounce in Europe as the dollar firmed. [GOL/] UPCOMING DATA/EVENTS * The U.S. Energy Information Administration's inventory report is due at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday. * The EIA natural gas storage report is set to be released on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) * The NYMEX refined products November contracts expire on Friday. 8:37 LAST NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT DAY AGO CHNG CHNG VOL VOL CLc1 81.78 -0.77 -0.9% 81.54 82.69 42,988 339,395 CLc2 82.46 -0.74 -0.9% 82.23 83.31 8,575 64,833 LCOc1 82.92 -0.74 -0.9% 82.71 83.67 55,117 153,047 RBc1 2.0762 -0.0178 -0.9% 2.0700 2.0922 1,384 26,711 RBc2 2.0589 -0.0183 -0.9% 2.0532 2.0769 3,673 44,636 HOc1 2.2308 -0.0192 -0.9% 2.2258 2.2474 1,159 23,949 HOc2 2.2486 -0.0198 -0.9% 2.2434 2.2662 3,449 49,171 * NYMEX crude oil for December CLc1 fell 77 cents to $81.78 a barrel by 8:37 a.m. in volume of 42,988 lots. (Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by Alden Bentley)

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