* Crude oil prices touch highest levels since July
* PIRA Energy Group sees crude rising to $75/bbl by 2017
* Concerns over Syria, Chinese stock gains render support
(New throughout, updates prices and market activity)
By Koustav Samanta and Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed to their
highest in three months on Thursday after a closely watched oil
forecaster predicted prices would climb to $75 over the next two
years, adding to early gains notched after a rally in Chinese
stocks worries about Syria.
PIRA Energy Group, a closely watched forecaster that
predicted the collapse in oil prices a year ago, said it sees
crude prices at $70 per barrel by the end of 2016 and $75 a
barrel in 2017. ID:nL1N1281EF
Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 closed up $1.72 at $53.05 a
barrel, while U.S. crude futures CLc1 closed up $1.62 at
$49.43 a barrel.
Earlier, crude prices climbed on buoyant Chinese equity
markets and as Russia's military involvement in Syria brought a
geopolitical risk premium into the market.
Chinese stock markets rose 3 percent after a week-long
holiday, the biggest rise in two trading weeks. ID:nZZN2RKE00
"Sentiment regarding China appears to have shifted of late
and we feel that further stability in the Chinese stock market
will limit downside price follow-through across the energy
complex," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Galena,
Illinois-based Ritterbusch & Associates.
Syrian troops and allied militia backed by Russian air
strikes and cruise missiles attacked rebel forces. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1281MQ
"The situation is getting complicated very quickly and
raising the geopolitical risk in the region to a new high,"
Energy Management Institute analyst Dominick Chirichella said
about the conflict in Syria.
"This has caught the attention of the market place (and) is
viewed as a situation that could potentially impact the flow of
oil from the region as well as degrading the already declining
relationship between Russia and the U.S."
Brent is on track to rise more than 10 percent this week,
close to its largest weekly increase since early 2009, after oil
industry executives warned that this year's fall below $50 would
force higher-cost producers to reduce output. ID:nL8N1263R4
Separately, minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's Sept.
16-17 meeting, released on Thursday, showed the Fed's
policymaking committee was unsettled by signs of turmoil abroad
but did not think this had "materially altered" the outlook for
the U.S. economy.
"The Fed minutes had them worrying about inflation even
though they still think they can raise rates this year and there
are geopolitical concerns, but I think there is a focus on
production destruction in the United States and that is also
helping lift prices," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures
Group in Chicago.
(Addtional reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York, Amanda
Cooper in London, Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by David
Gregorio)