UPDATE 7-Brent edges up, seesawing with dollar, equities

* Brent-US crude spread hits narrowest since September

* Coming up: Fed Chair Bernanke speaks, 4:00 p.m. EST Monday

(Recasts with updated prices, market activity; changes byline and dateline, previous LONDON)

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Brent oil edged up in choppy trading on Monday, seesawing with the U.S. dollar as crude futures tried to rebound after coming under pressure from weaker gasoline in the previous session.

Oil analysts said the dollar index drew pressure and crude received an early lift after Charles Evans, the Chicago Federal Reserve president, said in a speech that the Fed "will provide the monetary accommodation necessary to close the large resource gaps that currently exist".

But Brent briefly turned lower as the dollar index recovered from earlier weakness and after U.S. stock futures declined, helping to turn European stocks weaker.

"The dollar index recovered after being lower and the stock market futures pulled back, helping crude oil pare gains," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Concern that Republicans might be willing to allow the United States to default on debt if spending cuts are not part of a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling also applied pressure on oil and stock markets, brokers and analysts said.

U.S. President Barack Obama scheduled a surprise news conference for Monday morning to press his case for raising the U.S. borrowing limit.

"There seems to be some increased chatter about Republicans accepting the idea of debt default and that could be weighing on crude and other markets on a macro basis," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

Brent February crude rose 28 cents to $110.92 a barrel by 11:27 a.m. EST (1627 GMT), having seesawed either side of the 100-day moving average at $111.02.

The Brent February contract expires on Wednesday.

U.S. February crude was down 10 cents at $93.46 a barrel, having swung from $92.95 to $94.29.

Brent's premium to U.S. crude <CL-LCO1=R> was higher at around $17.50, but only after falling below $17 a barrel during Monday's session.

The spread has narrowed following last week's start-up of the expanded Seaway pipeline, expected to ease the glut of crude in the U.S. Midwest and especially at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for the U.S. futures contract.

Wall Street was mixed after opening lower as shares of Apple were hit by demand concerns, while investors faced a busy week for earnings in what is expected to be a lackluster quarter.

After last week's news that Saudi Arabia's crude output fell in December, a senior Saudi oil ministry adviser told the state news agency on Monday that the kingdom cut oil production because of lower seasonal demand, rejecting media reports suggesting the move was aimed at pushing up crude prices.

(Reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York, Alex Lawler in London and Manash Goswami in Singapore; Editing by Dale Hudson)