Oil dips on expected US stockbuild, Nigeria supply

SINGAPORE, June 26 (Reuters) Oil prices eased on Tuesday amid expectations of swelling U.S. inventories and hopes that Nigerian exports could rise, although fears that U.S. refinery outages could keep stocks thin limited losses.

London Brent crude currently seen as the best benchmark for global oil prices, slipped 36 cents to .00 a barrel by 0649 GMT, after gaining 18 cents on Monday. U.S. light, sweet crude dipped 21 cents to .97 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories, already at a nine-year high, are expected to have risen a further 900,000 barrels last week, according to a Reuters poll of analysts. Gasoline inventories are also expected to rise, by 1.1 million barrels.

The end of a production-threatening strike in Nigeria and news that Royal Dutch Shell would restart Nigerian export shipments from Forcados also brought prices lower.

''There are some bearish factors in the market now but I don't know how long they will last as the market seems to refuse to go down,'' said Tony Nunan, a manager of risk management at Japan's Mitusbishi Corp.

The oil major said it will resume operations at the Forcados terminal next month, more than a year after shipments were stopped by militant attacks. It had shelved a plan to do so this month due to security concerns.

About 711,000 barrels per day of production in Nigeria, Africa's largest exporter, has been closed due to militant attacks.

''I wouldn't be so confident that the problems in Nigeria are over,'' said Nunan.

OPEC producers, excluding Iraq and Angola, are set to pump slightly more oil in June at 26.8 million barrels per day because of higher shipments from some members including Iran and Algeria, said Conrad Gerber, head of consultancy Petrologistics.

The estimate, while showing rising output in some OPEC countries, indicates top world exporter Saudi Arabia is keeping a lid on supply in spite of a jump in oil prices to over a barrel, from around in January.

The U.S. crude stock cushion to deal with supply disruptions was seen building for the fourth week, while gasoline stockpiles were expected to be lifted by higher refinery production and drivers slowing down on travel due to high prices.

But refinery snags in the world's top consumer limited its ability to build fuel inventories, while analysts said support also came from geopolitical supply risks such as Iran's nuclear dispute and Venezuelan oil industry nationalisation.

REUTERS PV DB1351