NYMEX-Crude up, eyes Russia response to shield deal

* Crude cuts losses after Russia comments on shield deal

* Gasoline, heating oil recover from earlier dips

* TS Fay's possible return to Gulf of Mexico watched

NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures rose more than a dollar Wednesday afternoon, reacting to news of Russia's potential response to a the U.S.-Poland missile shield deal.

Crude futures had fallen sharply earlier as a larger-than-expected weekly build in crude stocks overshadowed a bigger-than-forecast drawdown in gasoline supplies.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:25 p.m. EDT (1725 GMT), September crude CLU8 was up $1.14, or 1.0 percent, at $115.67 a barrel, still below the day's high of $117.03. It fell as low as $112.61 earlier.

"The news of Russia's potential response to the U.S.-Poland missile shield is causing crude to recover from earlier losses here," said an off-floor NYMEX broker.

"The market is beginning to look at Russia more seriously here after discounting what it did to Georgia last week," the broker added.

Technical resistance was charted at $120, above the $119.07 20-day moving average, with support remaining at $110.

In London, October Brent LCOV8 was up $1, or 0.88 percent, at $114.25 a barrel, trading from $111.61 to $115.59.

Russia issued a harsh response on Wednesday to the announcement of a deal between Poland and the United States to base part of a U.S. missile defense system on Polish soil.

"Russia in this case will have to react and not only through diplomatic protests," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website www.mid.ru. [ID:nLK431570]

The Energy Information Administration said that for the week to Aug. 15, domestic crude stocks rose 9.4 million barrels to 305.9 million barrels, the biggest weekly increase since the week to March 23, 2001. [EIA/S]

The forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts was for a stock build of just 800,000 barrels.

Crude imports rose 1.3 million barrels per day to 11 million barrels per day, due to the offloading of imports that were delayed the previous week by Tropical Storm Eduoard.

Gasoline stocks fell 6.2 million barrels to 196.6 million barrels, against the forecast for a 2.7 million barrel drop.  Continued...