NYMEX-Crude choppy, slips amid recovery caution

* Wall Street slips amid investor caution

* API says U.S. June, first-half 2009 oil demand drops

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures
slipped in choppy trading Thursday as concerns about economic
recovery and oil demand persisted and with the August crude oil
options expiration expected to provide some trading
volatility.

While global equities strengthened, U.S. stocks opened
lower as investors turned cautious a day after Wall Street
tallied its biggest three-day gain since March and fell further
on a survey showing U.S. Mid-Atlantic region factory activity
contracted for a 10th consecutive month in July. [.N]

Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global in New York,
said the market was trying to decide how high oil prices can
rise before recovery is choked off, adding that "$60 is the
fulcrum balancing the price lever that tips whenever one
contention or another is bolstered by news or economic data."

Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch & Associates in
Galena, Illinois, noted that while U.S. crude oil supplies fell
again last week and distillate supplies rose less than
expected, total petroleum inventories were up on the week.

Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 1.5
million barrels in the week to July 10, the U.S. Energy
Information Administration data showed on Wednesday.

They remained above the upper limit of the average range
for this time of year.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:27 a.m EDT
(1427 GMT), August crude CLQ9 was down 34 cents, or 0.55
percent, at $61.20 a barrel, trading from $60.29 to $62.01.

* In London, expiring August Brent crude LCOQ9 fell 44
cents, or 0.7 percent, to $62.65 a barrel, trading from $61.99
to $63.30.

* NYMEX August RBOB RBQ9 fell 1.09 cents, or 0.64 percent
to $1.6972 a gallon, trading from $1.6807 to $1.7190.

* NYMEX August heating oil HOQ9 was choppy, up 0.06 cent,
or 0.04 percent, at $1.5827 a gallon, trading from $1.5585 to
$1.5969.

* The August/August RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> was at
$10.27, after ending at $10.20 on Wednesday. The August/August
heating oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R> was at $5.48, after ending
at $4.91 on Wednesday.

* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 was at $19.42, based
on the August 2014 contract Wednesday settlement at $80.62. The
spread ended Wednesday at $19.08.

TECHNICALS

NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $63.35/$66.58

Technical support/resistance:

NYMEX crude: $61.61/$65.60

NYMEX heating oil: $1.54/$1.6242

NYMEX RBOB: $1.6621/$1.7541

For a full report on technicals, click on [ID:nLG115707]

MARKET NEWS

* World stocks shook off their earlier hesitant mood and
rose half a percent to two-week highs after JP Morgan's
forecast-beating second-quarter results. [MKTS/GLOB]

* China's annual gross domestic product growth accelerated
in the second quarter to 7.9 percent from 6.1 percent in the
first quarter. [ID:nSP537798]

* U.S. oil demand in June declined 5.4 percent from the
year-ago period and declined 6 percent in the first half of
2009, the American Petroleum Institute said. [ID:nWEQ001209]

* Wednesday's U.S. Energy Information Administration
inventory report showed crude stocks fell 2.8 million barrels
in the week to July 10. Distillate supplies rose 600,000
barrels. Gasoline supplies rose 1.5 million barrels. [EIA/S]
(Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by Walter Bagley)