UPDATE 7-Sagging oil price surges 6% as grounded ship blocks Suez Canal

* Ships carrying commodities stuck after vessel grounding in
Suez
Canal
* U.S. crude, fuel stocks rise in most recent week -EIA
* Germany's Merkel says drops plan for stricter Easter
shutdown
* Sentiment still bearish after other pandemic curbs in
Europe

(Updates oil prices, adds comments)
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped about 6% on
Wednesday after a ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, and
worries that the incident could tie up crude shipments gave
prices a boost after a slide over the last week.
The crude benchmarks, U.S. crude and London-based Brent,
added to gains after U.S. inventory figures showed a further
rebound in refining activity, suggesting U.S. refiners are
mostly recovered from the cold snap that slammed Texas in
February.
Brent crude LCOc1 gained $3.69, or 6.1%, to $64.48 a
barrel by 12:53 p.m. EDT (1653 GMT), after tumbling 5.9% the
previous day. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 climbed
$3.49, or 6%, to $61.25, having lost 6.2% on Tuesday.
The gains appeared to stabilize the market that had slumped
from early this month, when prices hit their highest levels this
year on expectations for demand recovery. Those hopes have since
been dashed as European nations re-entered lockdowns to halt
another wave of the pandemic.
Oil has recovered from historic lows reached last year as
OPEC and its allies made record output cuts. On Tuesday, both
benchmarks touched their lowest since February.
A giant container ship has been blocking the Suez Canal for
more than a day, but it has been partially refloated, with
traffic along the fastest shipping route from Europe to Asia
expected to resume soon, port agent GAC said on Wednesday.
"It's one of those wild cards that is unique to the crude
oil industry," said Bob Yawger of Mizuho in New York. "Once you
think you have everything nailed down, I can guarantee one
thing: you don't."
Oil prices were also supported by U.S. Energy Information
Administration data that showed refinery runs recovering after a
winter storm shut Texas refineries last month.
"The refiners are coming out of maintenance and recovering
from the power outages. The expectation is now that they're
getting back to work, we will see crude inventories trending
lower in the coming weeks," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at
Price Futures Group in Chicago.
Italy, France and other European countries have re-imposed
movement restrictions. But German Chancellor Angela
Merkel said she was reversing a decision for a stricter Easter
shutdown. Germany is Europe's biggest oil consumer. and its allies, known as OPEC+, meet on April 1 to
consider whether to unwind more of their output cuts.