* U.S. oil futures briefly dip to lowest since March 2009
* Citi downgrades 2015 WTI price forecast to $48
* Weak yuan puts downward pressure on commodities - Goldman
Sachs
* North Sea Brent crude still above 2015 lows
(Updates prices, detail; paragraphs 4-5, 11)
By Lisa Barrington
LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil steadied on Friday
after falling to its lowest in almost 6-1/2 years as huge
stockpiles and refinery shutdowns heightened concerns about
global oversupply.
Oil had already tumbled more than 3 percent on Thursday,
driven by a report that stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the
delivery point for U.S. crude futures, rose more than 1.3
million barrels in the week to Aug. 11. ID:nL1N10O1B9
U.S. crude CLc1 hit an intraday low of $41.35 a barrel,
its lowest since March 2009, before recovering to $42.86 by 1338
GMT, up 63 cents on the day.
Brent crude LCOc1 traded at $49.17, down 5 cents and some
way off its 2015 low of $45.19 reached in January. The
front-month September Brent contract expires on Friday.
U.S. crude is much weaker than the North Sea benchmark,
partly due to refinery outages sapping U.S. demand. The largest
of those refineries - BP's BP.L 413,500-barrels-per-day (bpd)
facility in Whiting, Indiana, shut two-thirds of its capacity
for repairs that could last a month or more.
Robin Bieber, director and technical analyst at London
brokerage PVM Oil Associates, said the U.S. crude oil contract,
also known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, had become
somewhat dislocated from Brent.
"The contracts are not all on the same technical page and
this causes a lack of clarity," Bieber said. "WTI could plunge
but the rest hold steady."
Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG) analyst Carsten Fritsch said he didn't expect an
accelerated drop in prices, but rather "a slow grind lower" as
long as the Whiting refinery was out of service.
Petromatrix oil analyst Olivier Jakob said WTI could fall
further, but Brent was in a consolidation phase: "WTI is still
facing some local issues and it could weaken more. Otherwise
Brent will start to stabilise."
On Friday, Citi Group revised down its base case crude oil
price outlook to $54 per barrel for Brent in 2015 and $53 in
2016. It cut its U.S. crude outlook to $48 for 2015 and 2016.
ID:nL3N10P4OI
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said a weaker Chinese yuan was putting
downward pressure on all commodity markets, signalling a change
in global macroeconomic conditions.
"We believe the net commodity market effects are bearish,"
it said in a note to clients. ID:nL5N10P04P
(Editing by Christopher Johnson)