* U.S. crude stocks fall unexpectedly, says API
* U.S. crude supply seen up on low runs in EIA weekly data
* Doubts about success of bank rescue plan rattle markets
(Update prices, adds Saudi oil minister comments, China data)
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Oil climbed above $38 a barrel on
Wednesday, recovering some of the previous day's 5 percent
losses, after industry group American Petroleum Institute's
weekly data showed crude stockpiles had fallen unexpectedly.
But a downward revision by the U.S. government on its oil
demand forecasts, doubts over the effectiveness of the U.S.
bank rescue plan and the latest data showing China's January
crude imports fell to the lowest in 15 months, capped oil's
gains.
U.S. crude <CLc1> for March delivery <CLc1> rose 49 cents
or 1.3 percent to $38.04 a barrel by 0701 GMT, after settling
down $2.01 on Tuesday.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 41 cents to $45.02,
stretching its unusual premium to U.S. oil prices to around $7
a barrel, due to a record supply glut that has built up in
Cushing, Oklahoma, where the delivery of the U.S. contract is
based.
"The API data is helping prices to rebound after last
night's sell-off. Oil prices were perhaps a little oversold
amid the panic across the equities and commodities markets,"
said Toby Hassall, chief analyst at Commodities Warrants
Australia.
"The macroeconomic data from the U.S. is not painting a
picture of swift recovery but the API numbers could be an
indication that supply and demand in the spot market is
beginning to get a little more balanced."
CHINA IMPORT FALLS
U.S. crude oil stockpiles unexpectedly fell 1.996 million
barrels last week despite an increase in import levels and a
decline from refineries, data from the American Petroleum
Institute on Tuesday [], bucking expectations that
crude stocks would increase by 3.1 million barrels.
Analysts said investors were cautiously optimistic as the
API report comes one day ahead of the U.S. Energy Information
Administration's (EIA) weekly report on petroleum supply and
demand, which is considered to be accurate.
U.S. crude oil inventories rose for the seventh consecutive
time last week, analysts forecast in a Reuters poll on Tuesday,
citing a drop in refinery utilisation and higher imports.
[]
Saudi Arabia's oil minister said low oil prices were as
unjustified and unsustainable as the record peak above $147 a
barrel last summer. []
Oil's roller coaster ride from nearly $150 a barrel last
July to below $40 a barrel this week "represents a significant
impediment to ensuring adequate and timely investment flows
into the energy sector," Naimi said.
He said the worst economic downturn since World War Two has
shrunk global oil demand for the first time in 25 years.
[]
But expectations that the International Energy Agency will
again cut its forecasts for 2009 world energy demand this week
due to a worsening economic outlook [] continued
to weigh on oil markets.
Oil's sharp losses on Tuesday, which dragged it back below
the psychologically important $40 mark, came after the U.S.
government revised its oil demand forecasts lower and on
concerns the American banks bailout plan unveiled by the Obama
administration will do little to revive the ailing economy.
[]
The EIA revised down its 2009 global oil demand forecast by
400,000 barrels per day from the previous outlook, predicting
demand will fall by 1.17 million bpd this year from 2008
levels. []
Demand from China, the world's second-largest energy
consumer, continued to fall along with its slowing economy, as
its January crude oil imports dropped 8 percent to the lowest
level for 15 months. []
"The data is consistent with the anecdotal evidences of
factory shutdowns that we have observed in the past few
months," Gordon Kwan, head of China Energy Research with CLSA
said in a research note and echoed the same sentiment for
February.
(Additional reporting by Dharmasari Haroun in SINGAPORE;
Editing by Ramthan Hussain)
