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 Fighting in Libya has cut output there to 352,000 barrels a day, a
state oil company spokesman said on Thursday, or about half
November's average. This countered the U.S. Department of Energy's
(DOE) report showing a big stockbuild.
"The fighting in Libya is starting to be more and more about a
battle for the oil resources and this will not end well," said
Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland. "The DOE
statistics are bearish, Libya is bullish."
Brent crude <LCOc1> was at $60.55 at 1015 GMT, up 31 cents, while
U.S. crude <CLc1> added 55 cents at $56.39 in thin trade as many
countries are still on Christmas holiday.
 The market had come under pressure from Wednesday's DOE report,
which showed a 7.3 million-barrel rise in crude inventories to their
highest December level on record. Analysts had expected a seasonal
decline. [EIA/S]
Nonetheless, Brent still managed to close above $60, validating that
psychological support level as the bottom of Brent's trading range
of $60 to $70 for now, Jakob said.
Crude imports by Japan, the world's fourth-biggest oil buyer, in
November dropped 17.3 percent from a year earlier to 14.68 million
kilolitres (3.08 million bpd), government data showed on Thursday.
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However, there is not enough downward pressure to keep prices down,
Singapore-based Phillip Futures said in a note.
"Prices seem adamant on staying above support levels and it seems
they will hold for this festive season," it said. "We continue to
attribute this to the short-covering at the end of the year."
(Reporting by Alex Lawler and Henning Gloystein; Editing by Robin
Pomeroy)
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