NYMEX-Crude up on Iran supply worries, weak dollar

* Consumer prices rise sharply, gasoline biggest factor

* Asian buyers of Iran oil seek exception on EU ban rule

* Speculators raise NYMEX crude oil positions-CFTC

* Coming up: API weekly petroleum stocks data, Tuesday

NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures
rose on Friday, as worries of supply disruption from Iran
resurfaced and the dollar weakened, enticing investors to raise
their bets on the commodity.

U.S. inflationary pressures appeared contained, data on
consumer prices showed, causing the dollar to pause from a rally
as investors now expect lower odds that the U.S. Federal Reserve
would tighten monetary policy anytime soon.

While gasoline prices rose sharply last month, consumers
did not expect the run-up to last very long, the weekly Thomson
Reuters/University of Michigan consumer survey showed.

The potential impact of the loss of Iranian oil when the
slated European Union ban of Iranian oil comes into effect in
July again pushed risk premium on oil higher, traders said.

This time, the focus is on Asian oil importers, who are
lobbying for exceptions from the EU embargo to insure deliveries
of Iranian oil shipments.

The importers are asking they be exempted from a provision
in EU embargo that specified a ban EU insurers and reinsurers
from indemnifying vessels carrying Iranian crude and fuel
anywhere in the world.

Oil futures slightly pared gains in morning trading as the
recent surge in Saudi Arabia's oil shipments to the United
States looked set to continue, according to tanker industry
sources and U.S. government data.

Prices fell on Thursday on news that Britain would cooperate
with the United States in releasing strategic oil reserves later
this year, according to British sources, in a bid to prevent
fuel prices choking economic growth in a U.S. election year.

For a wrapup of Friday's U.S. economic data, see

FUNDAMENTALS

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for April
delivery rose $1.95, or 1.86 percent, to settle at
$107.06 a barrel. For the week, it fell 34 cents, or 0.32
percent after gaining in the week to March 9 at $107.40.

* In London, ICE Brent crude for May delivery, the new
front-month, settled at $125.81 a barrel, gaining $3.21, or 2.62
percent. For the week, it fell 17 cents, or 0.13 percent, after
rising in the week to March 9 to $125.98.

* May Brent crude's premium against U.S. May crude widened
to $18.23, after falling to $16.95 on Thursday. April Brent
expired on Thursday and posted a premium of $18.44 against U.S.
April crude that day. CL-LCO1=R

* NYMEX April RBOB settled at $3.3569 a gallon, up
6.84 cents, or 2.08 percent. For the week, the contract rose
2.45 cents, or 0.74 percent, from the $3.3324 close on March 9,
extending weekly gains to a sixth in a row.

* NYMEX April heating oil closed at $3.2819 a gallon,
gaining 5.94 cents, or 1.84 percent. For the week, the contract
edged up 1.81 cents, or 0.55 percent, from the $3.2638
settlement on March 9, rising for a second straight weeks.

* Hedge funds and other large investors raised their net long
positions on U.S. crude futures and options in the week to March
13 by 8.348 contracts, to 280,448, as prices rose $2 to $106.71
on Iran oil supply concerns. The latest data followed a cut in
crude oil positions in the week to March 6, which was the first
decline in five weeks.

* The U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent in
February, the most in 10 months, after rising 0.2 percent in
January. More than 80 percent of the rise was due to gasoline's
price spike.

* Outside the volatile food and energy sectors, inflation
pressures were generally contained as the core CPI edged up 0.1
percent after gaining 0.2 percent in January.

* Gasoline prices rose 20 cents, or 6 percent last month,
the biggest rise since December 2010. That caused the consumer
sentiment index in the weekly Thomson Reuters/University of
Michigan survey to dip to 74.3 early this month from 75.3 in
February.

* Production in U.S. mines, factories and utilities held
steady in February after an upwardly revised gain of 0.4 percent
in January, data from the Federal Reserve.

* Saudi Arabia's shipments of oil to the United States hit
1.5 million barrels per day in the first 10 weeks of 2012,
rising 300,000 bpd from the fourth quarter of 2011, the largest
rise in shipments from the kingdom since the second quarter of
2003, provisional data from the Energy Information
Administration showed.

* Vela, Saudi Arabia's state oil tanker company, has booked
at least nine very large crude carriers (VLCCs) capable of
carrying 2 million barrels of crude each from the Middle East
Gulf to the U.S. Gulf since the start of March, the biggest such
wave of fixtures in years, analysts said.

MARKETS NEWS

* The U.S. dollar fell as tame U.S. inflation data prompted
a rethinking of expectations of higher interest rates.

* The Standard & Poor's 500 Index wrapped up its best week
in three months as investors continued to push equities to near
four-year highs.[.N}

* Copper slipped, losing grip on two-week highs as investors
weighed an improving global economy against more signs of
sluggish demand in China, which accounts for nearly 40 percent
of copper consumption.

* Gold was little changed on the day, but posted its
second-biggest weekly decline this year as prices dropped early
in the week after the Federal Reserve withheld any additional
monetary easing following a string of encouraging U.S. economic
data.

UPCOMING EVENTS/DATA

* Chicago (Midwest) business index for Jan., 8:30 a.m. (1230
GMT), Monday

SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT DAY AGO

CHNG CHNG VOL VOL
CLc1 107.06 1.95 1.9% 105.13 107.34 180,635 371,039
CLc2 107.58 1.93 1.8% 105.65 107.85 141,427 159,828
LCOc1 125.81 3.21 2.6% 122.45 126.15 154,908 20,330
RBc1 3.3569 0.0684 2.1% 3.2839 3.3660 37,628 52,897
RBc2 3.3535 0.0693 2.1% 3.2815 3.3620 35,697 46,887
HOc1 3.2819 0.0594 1.8% 3.2193 3.2902 36,389 60,503
HOc2 3.2910 0.0620 1.9% 3.2268 3.2989 23,351 29,106

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME OPEN INTEREST

CURRENT Mar 15 30D AVG Mar 15 NET CHNG
CRUDE 525,926 832,565 713,066 1,559,075 10,862
RBOB 115,357 181,405 140,803 389,135 5,040
HO 88,735 131,919 148,817 281,881 961

(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by
Marguerita Choy)