Brent, U.S. crude rise on rate cut hopes, Nigeria

----------------------------------------------------------------
NEARBY MONTH LAST CHANGE PCT SUPPORT RESIST RSI-14 RIC
ICE BRENT 92.76 +0.54 +0.59 92.00 - 94.00 43 LCOc1
NYMEX CRUDE 94.25 +0.54 +0.58 92.00 - 96.00 43 CLc1
ICE GAS OIL 806.00 +1.50 +0.19 800.00 - 820.00 37 LGOc1
NYMEX HEAT 2.5695 +0.0122 +0.48 2.5500 - 2.6500 39 HOc1
NYMEX RBOB 2.3629 +0.0028 +0.12 2.3000 - 2.4000 38 RBc1
--------------------------------------------------------------

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - ICE Brent and U.S. crude futures
rose on Friday, helped by technical buying after steep falls in
the previous session and reports of explosions on an oil tanker
in Nigeria.

- The promise of aggressive rate cuts by the U.S. Federal
Reserve to prevent the world's biggest economy from sliding into
a recession which could potentially harm energy demand also
helped support oil.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that the U.S.
economic outlook had worsened and the bank was ready to take
"substantial" measures to shore up the economy.

- An oil tanker at Nigeria's Port Harcourt burst into flames
after two loud explosions were heard, oil industry sources said.

But the tanker was berthed in a general cargo area, not at
an oil exporting terminal, and crude oil exports from the
world's eighth largest oil exporter were not affected.
[nL11454795]

- Fear of a U.S. recession this year has pulled oil back
from highs above $100 hit last week as it raised concerns that
oil demand growth could slow for the world's largest energy
consumer.

- Prices fell on Thursday after gasoline led the entire
energy complex lower as funds looked to offload some of their
gasoline length accumulated in the anticipation of the
reweighting of the GSCI index this week.

- A larger-than-expected build in U.S. gasoline stocks also
pressured the market. Gasoline inventories rose 5.3 million
barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said on
Wednesday, far exceeding analysts' expectations. [EIA/S]

(Reporting by Santosh Menon; Editing by Anthony Barker)