UPDATE 5-Strong payrolls data pushes Brent higher

* U.S. payrolls data beats forecasts

* European manufacturing down for 15th month

* North Sea supply expected to return, Angolan force majeure

* U.S. crude inventories post surprise drop -EIA

(Recasts with payrolls data, updates prices, adds quote)

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil gained on Friday, snapping a four-day losing streak as U.S. jobs data surpassed expectations, easing fears on the outlook for demand.

U.S. employers stepped up hiring in October and the jobless rate ticked higher as more workers restarted job hunts, a hopeful sign for a struggling economy.

Employers added 171,000 people to their payrolls last month, significantly more than forecast.

Brent crude for December was up 56 cents to $108.73 a barrel by 1259 GMT, while U.S. crude for December was down 18 cents at $86.91.

However Brent was still down slightly for the week, and traders said the fact that U.S. unemployment as a whole ticked higher prevented a stronger bounce-back.

``A good set of numbers but (the market) was still checking that unemployment rate which ticked up so that put a bit of a dampener on it from taking off too much at the moment,'' said Rob Montefusco at Sucden Financial.

The downbeat broader economic backdrop for developed nations was emphasized by data showing that euro zone manufacturing shrank for the 15th month running in October as output and new orders fell, a survey showed.

Weak economic growth, high prices and improving vehicle fuel efficiency pushed down consumption of gasoline and diesel in most of Western Europe over the summer, official statistics showed.

SUPPLY WATCH

The North Sea Buzzard oilfield was expected to restart on Thursday, adding supplies to the most important of the North Sea crudes that underpin the Brent oil benchmark.

Brent's premium to West Texas Intermediate crude has narrowed to about $21 a barrel.

Supply from West Africa remained a concern however, after U.S. oil major Chevron said that its Angolan subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company had declared force majeure at the Kuito offshore oil terminal on Oct. 29.

Last month, Shell declared a force majeure on Bonny Light and Forcados grades of Nigerian oil due to fire, flooding and theft.

The U.S. East Coast is still struggling to recover from super storm Sandy. Logistical problems continued to roil New York harbour on Thursday, threatening widespread delays in fuel deliveries off the New York Mercantile Exchange's futures contracts.

Crude inventories fell unexpectedly last week as imports dropped sharply, while oil product inventories were mixed as refinery utilization rose, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday.

Crude stocks dropped by 2.05 million barrels in the week to Oct. 26, the government figures showed. That compared with analyst forecasts in a Reuters poll for a rise of 1.5 million barrels.

U.S. stocks of refined products were mixed as refinery utilization rose by 0.5 percentage point to 87.7 percent of capacity. However, they remained relatively, low keeping upward pressure on refining margins.

``The narrative of ample crude stocks and low refined product inventories remains intact despite the latest weekly changes to inventories,'' BNP analysts said in a note.

``We remain concerned that the existing low level of distillate stocks is set to continue into the winter.''

(Additional reporting by Alice Bagdhjian and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Alison Birrane and David Cowell)