Oil slips in anticipation of Iran deal; IEA data pressures

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude futures fell on Friday on worries that Iran may get an agreement to lift sanctions on its oil exports, outweighing optimism that Greece may have a bailout deal by the weekend to bring relief to global markets.

The International Energy Agency's (IEA) forecast of weaker oil demand also weighed on the market after a surge in Chinese equities supported crude prices earlier.

Weak U.S. gasoline prices were another negative factor, especially for New York traded crude.

Traders said they were also looking for the latest reading of U.S. oil rig count from industry firm Baker Hughes at 1:00 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) for indications of forthcoming supply.

London-traded Brent crude fell 40 cents, or 1 percent, to $58.21 a barrel by 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT), giving up gains of more than $1 from earlier in the session. Brent had settled up more than 3 percent on Thursday, a powerful rebound from Tuesday's three-month lows.

U.S. crude was down 55 cents at $52.23 a barrel in New York, having risen more than $1 too in earlier trade.

Gasoline futures, which has led U.S. crude for weeks on bets of runaway fuel demand for the peak summer driving season, tumbled more than 2 percent on profit-taking from three straight days of gains.

In Tehran, Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said his country had no intention to abandon nuclear talks with the United States and other world powers aimed at lifting sanctions on its crude exports. The negotiations expired on Friday without a deal.

"The prospects on a Greece bailout is encouraging but we're down on anticipation that an Iran deal may also get done," said David Thompson, executive vice-president at Powerhouse, an energy-specialized commodities broker in Washington.

Greece put a cash-for-reforms proposal in front of creditors, raising the possibility that a deal could be reached this weekend.

China, the world's No. 2 oil consumer, saw the second day of a stock market surge with equity prices rising more than 5 percent after a barrage of government support measures.

International energy watchdog IEA said it expected global demand growth to slow next year to 1.2 million barrels per day from 1.4 million this year - far less than needed to balance stubbornly growing non-OPEC and OPEC supply.

(Additional reporting by Simon Falush in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy)