Oil Below $97 on Supplies, Strong Dollar

Abundant supply keeps pressure on crude; Dollar at four-year high. Libya production rises, Hariga port back to normal.

Brent crude oil dipped further below $97 a barrel on Thursday as abundant supply and a strong dollar outweighed concerns about threats to supply posed by fighting in the Middle East.

The dollar hit a four-year high, dampening demand for commodities priced in the U.S. currency at a time when global economic growth is already lacklustre, particularly in the euro zone and China. The euro reached a 22-month low as speculation grew that the region will need another stimulus package to spur growth.

Brent fell by 10 cents to $96.85 a barrel by 1031 GMT. It hit its lowest since July 2012 at $95.60 on Wednesday.

U.S. crude was down 5 cents at $92.75 a barrel.

"I'm not convinced the pressure on crude oil is over," said Olivier Jakob, managing director at Petromatrix. "Unless you have a supply cut, it's going to be difficult to have a strong rebound."

Fighting across the Middle East and North Africa continued the prospect of possible disruption to oil production in several OPEC countries.

Scattered attacks by rival militias continued across Libya, but overall national production has risen.

Libya's oil output has climbed to 900,000 barrels per day (bpd), with the major El Sharara oilfield at 200,000 bpd, an official with the National Oil Corporation said.

Officials at Libya's eastern Hariga oil port said it had fully recovered from eight months of blockades by protesters and is exporting more than 120,000 bpd.

U.S.-led air strikes have targeted Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in eastern Syria in a move to choke off a source of revenue for the militant group, U.S. officials said.

Last week Abdullah al-Badri, secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he expected the group to lower its output target.

But on Tuesday, United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said it was premature to decide before OPEC meets in November.

OPEC's top oil producer and the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, pumped 9.597 million bpd in August, an industry source said on Wednesday.

Although that was down by 408,000 bpd from around 10 million bpd in July, the amount of crude supplied to the market inched up to 9.688 million bpd in August.

By Libby George