Oil falls more than $1 as dollar firms

Oil fell more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday as part of a broader commodities sell-off on the firmer U.S. dollar, which countered concerns over possible supply disruptions due to the Russia-Georgia clash.
Worries over slowing global demand also put prices under pressure, after world No. 2 consumer China posted a surprise drop in July crude imports.
U.S. crude fell 90 cents to $113.55 a barrel by 0632 GMT, hovering at its lowest since early May. The contract has fallen more than $30, or around 23%, from the record above $147 a barrel touched on July 11.
London Brent crude slid $1.19 to $111.48.
"Oil prices have again sagged lower despite the potential threat that the Russia-Georgia conflict poses to oil supplies. The firm U.S. dollar is weighing on the oil price," David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note.
The U.S. dollar rose to a six-month high against the euro as concerns over the global economy have kept other major currencies under pressure.
Investors had bought oil and other commodities such as gold in earlier months as a hedge against inflation and a weak U.S. dollar, helping push oil prices to a record above $147 in July.
Crude oil had risen sevenfold at its peak last month, after climbing for six years on growing demand from China and other developing economies.
But worries over a slowdown in global demand were given impetus after China reported an unexpected 7% fall in July crude oil imports, the steepest monthly drop since January 2005.
"I think it's going to be a short-term issue. From the market point of view, it will be more interesting to see what happens after the Olympics," said Gerard Burg, a commodities analyst at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.
With the U.S. dollar on the rise, traders have largely shrugged off concerns that the conflict between Russia and Georgia would disrupt key transportation links for Caspian Sea oil producers, including Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
With Russian forces advancing deeper into Georgia, U.S. President George W. Bush warned Russia on Monday that a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of Moscow's push into the smaller country would jeopardize relations with the West.
Georgia's oil ports of Supsa and Batumi, which export Azeri crude, have reduced shipments while the Georgian port of Poti has been shut. Kazakhstan also stopped shipments of its crude from Batumi.
The cutbacks follow a fire in eastern Turkey last week on the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which halted loadings of Azeri light crude at the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The blaze was put out on Monday but repairs may take one to two weeks or longer, a source at the pipeline consortium said, forcing BP Plc to cut output by at least 400,000 barrels a day at the Azeri-Chirag Gunashli oil fields.
Traders would also be looking out for the weekly U.S. oil inventory data due on Wednesday.
A preliminary poll of analysts showed crude stocks would likely fall by 100,000 barrels, while gasoline would show a 2.1 mln barrel draw and distillates would build by 1.7 mln barrels.