SINGAPORE, June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. oil held steady above $79 on Wednesday ahead of data due later in the day that could show a drop in crude stockpiles although worries over the euro zone debt crisis are set to limit price gains.
U.S. crude for August
Crude stockpiles in the United States were forecast to have fallen by 500,000 barrels last week due to a drop in imports, an extended Reuters poll of analysts found, ahead of data from the Energy Information Administration later today.
But data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed late on Tuesday showed an unexpected rise of 507,000 barrels last week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Statoil
The strike cut Norway's oil production by 150,000 barrels per day and pushed up Brent futures by 2 percent to settle above $93 a barrel on Tuesday.
* Oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico continued to restart operations on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Debby, the first named storm of 2012 to disrupt the basin's energy operations, weakened and made landfall in Florida.
* World oil inventories have risen over the past two months, aided by increased output from Iraq and Libya, but spare production capacity remains tight, the U.S. government said on Tuesday.
* Iraq's Majnoon oilfield, one of the OPEC member's major fields, has started its shutdown for maintenance and it was not known how long the repairs will last, field operator Royal Dutch Shell said.
* U.S. gasoline demand fell last week as an uncertain economic outlook forced motorists to cut back on non-essential driving, MasterCard's SpendingPulse report showed.
MARKETS NEWS
* German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to bury once and for all the idea of common euro zone bonds on Tuesday, saying Europe would not share total debt liability as long as she lives, as the bloc's big four finance ministers met to narrow differences on how to solve a worsening debt crisis.
* Wall Street stocks rose and the euro fell to its lowest level versus the U.S. dollar in over two weeks on Tuesday, as technical buying offset a near tripling in Spanish debt costs.
* The euro fell to it lowest against the dollar in more than two weeks on Tuesday.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Wednesday:
- EIA weekly oil data 1430GMT
- U.S. durable goods order for May 1230GMT
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
((florence.tan@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3497)(Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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Keywords: MARKETS ASIA NYMEX/
