* Kuwait oil strike shuts over 60 pct of its production
* Brent ends down 0.4 pct; off 7 pct first on Doha talks
collapse
* Near 860,000 bbls drop in Cushing stocks in April 15 week
* RTRS poll still shows 2.1 mln-bbls rise in U.S. stocks
last week
* Some investors still bearish on WTI, piling on $35 June
puts
(Adds some investors piling on bearish bets in WTI after failed
Doha talks)
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - Oil prices slid on Monday
after a plan by major oil producers to freeze production was
scuttled, but a Kuwaiti oil industry strike helped the market
pare losses and settle off the day's lows.
The strike crippled more than 60 percent of Kuwait's crude
output, lending support to price benchmarks such as Brent and
Dubai.
Brent tumbled as much as 7 percent earlier on Monday after
oil majors from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and non-OPEC Russia failed to reach agreement on a
plan to freeze output at a meeting in Doha, Qatar.
"The material loss in production from the Kuwait strike has
helped the oil market forget about the farce from Doha," said
Matt Smith, director of commodity research at the New
York-headquartered Clipperdata.
Brent LCOc1 settled down 19 cents, or 0.4 percent, at
$42.91 a barrel. It had fallen $3 earlier in the session.
U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark CLc1
closed down 58 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $39.78 a barrel, after
sliding to $37.61 at the day's low.
While fallout from the Doha plan could weigh on a nascent
recovery in oil prices, the market may not tumble as much as it
did earlier this year, when Brent hit 12-year lows of around $27
in late January, some analysts said.
"Gradually declining non-OPEC production as well as planned
maintenance in the face of resilient oil demand in Q1 have
recently pointed to improving oil fundamentals," analysts at
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said in a note, referring to the first quarter.
A weakening dollar .DXY and the mostly steady climb in
global equities since February have supported oil too. USD/
.N
"While a few forecasters may be dusting off some old $20 WTI
expectations as a result of the Doha outcome, we expect solid
support in nearby WTI at the $35 mark," Jim Ritterbusch at
Chicago oil consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates said.
Still, some investors piled on bearish options on U.S.
crude, fearing the market may retest 2003 lows of around $26
struck in February. Open interest in WTI's June puts that allow
the holder to sell at $35 per barrel CL350R6 hit a record high
above 36,000, up 8 percent from Thursday and more than double
levels seen in January.
A Reuters poll, meanwhile, showed U.S. crude inventories as
a whole rose 2.1 million barrels last week, even as market
intelligence firm Genscape issued data suggesting a near
860,000-barrels decline at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point
for WTI in the week to April 15.