NYMEX-Crude steady on Labor Day after gain on Bernanke

NYMEX crude for October delivery was down 3 cents at $96.44 a barrel by 2252 GMT, after settling up $1.85 at $96.47 on Friday, also on the back of stronger-than-expected U.S. factory orders and consumer sentiment data.

U.S. markets are closed on Monday for the U.S. Labor Day holiday, and there will be no settlement on Monday.

* London Brent crude for October delivery climbed 1 cent to $114.58 a barrel, after settling up $1.92.

* U.S. watchdogs said 71.5 percent of daily oil production and 55.62 percent of daily natural gas output in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico remained shut on Sunday due to Hurricane Isaac, whose remnants were drenching sections of the Midwest.

The U.S. Department of Energy loaned 1 million barrels of light sweet crude oil to Marathon Petroleum Corp from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) due to short-term supply problems created by Isaac.

* Crude prices got support from reports Germany and Italy remain opposed to a release of emergency consumer oil stocks, which created further uncertainty about the timing of any possible release as sanctions on Iranian exports have tightened the market and boosted prices.

* Iran's oil exports are at their levels and are unaffected by Western embargoes, an Iranian oil official was quoted as saying on Sunday.

* Russia extracted oil at a record pace of 10.38 million barrels per day in August, a level unseen since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as companies took advantage of high oil prices, Energy Ministry data showed on Sunday.

* Norwegian oil drilling workers reached a last-minute wage deal with employers on Sunday to avoid a second strike in just two months, bringing relief to one of the world's top oil and gas exporters.

* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers on Sunday to set a "clear red line" for Tehran's atomic programme that would convince Iran they were determined to prevent it from obtaining nuclear arms.

* Speculators increased their bets on rising oil prices by 12 percent in the week to Aug. 28, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday, with data showing these positions at their highest level since early May.

MARKETS NEWS

* U.S. stocks rose and the dollar fell to an eight-week low against the euro and two-week low against the yen on Friday, after Bernanke expressed "grave concern" for the stagnating U.S. job market.