NYMEX-Crude ends lower, hits new 2012 low as rally fades
* EU rescue for Spanish banks fails to ease investor worries
* Expected outage of new Motiva Port Arthur CDU bearish
* POLL-U.S. crude stocks down 1.5 mln bbls last week
* Coming up: API weekly petroleum data, Tuesday
NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures were lower for a third straight session on Monday, and set a new 2012 low in late trading, as an early rally on EU's rescue of Spanish banks faded amid investors raising questions about the aid package and focused on other troubled euro zone nations like Greece.
Leading oil producer Saudi Arabia called for an increase in OPEC's output target, despite falling oil prices, further adding to bearish sentiment in the oil markets.
The euro fell against the U.S. dollar and equities ended lower on disappointment over the Spanish aid package, to keep oil futures under pressure.
Also bearish for crude was news that an outage at a new crude distillation unit at Motiva Enterprises' 600,000 barrels per day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, -- the nation's largest -- would be offline for at least two months and potentially five months, for repairs, sources familiar with operations said.
Ahead of weekly inventory reports, U.S. crude oil inventories were forecast down 1.5 million barrels last week with analysts citing lower imports in a Reuters poll.
Distillate stocks were predicted up 1.0 million barrels while gasoline stocks were expected to show a 1.5-million-barrel increase, the poll also showed.
The American Petroleum Institute will issue its report for the week to Jan. 8 on Tuesday, after the oil markets close.
That will be followed by the report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, due Wednesday morning.\
FUNDAMENTALS
* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, July crude settled settled at $82.70 a barrel, down $1.40, or 1.66 percent, after trading between $82.58 and $86.64. In post-settlement trading, prices further fell to a session low of $81.11, the lowest since Oct. 6, when front-month U.S. crude fell to $79.08. The previous 2012 low was $81.21 hit on June 4.
* In London, ICE Brent crude for July delivery settled at $98 a barrel, dropping $1.47, or 1.48 percent, after trading between $97.41 to $102.71. After settlement, it dropped to the day's low of $96.48, just 85 cents above the year's low of $95.63 also posted on June 4.
* Brent's premium against U.S. crude was little changed at $15.30, from $15.37 on Friday. CL-LCO1=R
* U.S. refinery product margins fell 4.3 percent on average in the week ended June 8, a weekly report from Credit Suisse showed.
* China's imports of key commodities in May confounded expectations of a fall, with crude oil shipments at a record and both copper and iron ore imports unexpectedly rising more than 10 percent from a month again, data showed.
* Inflation, industrial output and retail sales in China, were lower than expected in May, the second straight month of sluggish growth that galvanized policymakers last week into reducing interest rates.
MARKETS NEWS
* U.S. equities fell as Europe's aid package for Spanish banks did little to ease investor worries about the euro zone's finances and the slowdown in the global economy.
* The euro lost ground against the dollar and yen after hitting three-week highs as Spain's bank bailout raised worries that the country is being saddled with more debt and investors were increasingly wary ahead of Greek elections.
* Copper posted its biggest one-day gain in nearly two months, buoyed by encouraging import data from top consumer China.
* Gold ended nearly flat after giving up early gains following a retreat in U.S. equities due to fading optimism over the European bailout for Spain's debt-stricken banks.
UPCOMING EVENTS/DATA
* American Petroleum Institute's weekly petroleum inventory data. 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) Tuesday.
* U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly petroleum inventory data, 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), Wednesday.
SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT DAY AGO
CHNG CHNG VOL VOL CLc1 82.70 -1.40 -1.7% 81.11 86.64 319,367 304,641 CLc2 83.00 -1.39 -1.7% 81.43 86.91 83,633 102,495 LCOc1 98.00 -1.47 -1.5% 96.48 102.21 224,481 252,948 RBc1 2.6566 -0.0286 -1.1% 2.6285 2.7523 57,527 63,209 RBc2 2.5877 -0.0338 -1.3% 2.5592 2.6859 46,096 32,831 HOc1 2.6357 -0.0364 -1.4% 2.6087 2.7428 53,047 79,963 HOc2 2.6394 -0.0357 -1.3% 2.6127 2.7441 25,380 42,932
TOTAL MARKET VOLUME OPEN INTEREST
CURRENT Jun 08 30D AVG Jun 08 NET CHNG CRUDE 608,183 687,726 563,287 1,454,551 6,834 RBOB 150,870 138,213 148,754 297,818 -415 HO 130,794 196,350 135,429 309,973 -5,864
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)
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