* Oil up more than $1 on OPEC consensus on needed supply
cut
* OPEC could cut by 1.5 to 2 mln bpd when meets on
Wednesday
* Equity markets up, weak dollar supports prices
(Updates prices throughout, adds China oil demand down)
By Osamu Tsukimori
TOKYO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Oil bounced $1 to above $47 a
barrel on Monday on signs that OPEC members are set to make a
deep supply cut when the oil cartel meets later this week, in
an effort to prop up prices.
Rising equities and a weaker dollar also lent support to
oil, which has lost $100 since its record high of over $147 in
mid-July, on growing fears of slowing world appetite for energy
amid a mounting global financial crisis.
U.S. light crude for for January delivery <CLc1> rose $1.01
to $47.29 a barrel by 0619 GMT, having risen earlier to $47.64.
The contract closed $1.70 lower on Friday after the U.S. Senate
failed to pass a bailout for automakers and Goldman Sachs
predicted oil could fall to $30.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> gained 76 cents to $47.17.
"OPEC's bullish comments on supply cuts, such as 2 million
barrels per day, is supporting the price," said Ken Hasegawa, a
commodity derivatives sales manager at broker Newedge in Tokyo.
"It's also getting support from the dollar's weakness
against the euro and the yen at the start of the week."
Equity markets in Asia rose on Monday, with Japan's
benchmark Nikkei 225 Index <> jumping 5.2 percent on hopes
of a lifeline for the struggling U.S. auto industry.
[]
OPEC ministers are in agreement on the need to cut output
when they meet on Wednesday in Algeria to prop up sagging
prices, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said on Saturday, but
declined to say by how much the organisation would cut.
[]
Iran will propose that OPEC cuts its oil output by between
1.5 and 2 million bpd, Iran's oil minister was quoted as saying
on Sunday. []
In two meetings since early September, the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has agreed to reduce
supply by a total of 2 million barrels per day (bpd) but prices
have continued falling.
"With global oil demand expected to continue falling
through much of 2009, the pressure is on the cartel as well as
non-OPEC producers such as Russia to remove excess production
from the market," said Jonathan Kornafel, Asia director of
Hudson Capital Energy in a note.
U.S. Department of Transportation figures showed on Friday
U.S. motorists drove 9 billion fewer miles in October than a
year earlier, down 3.5 percent. []
China's implied oil demand shrank by about 3.5 percent in
November from the year before, the first decline in nearly
three years as the giant economy brakes more sharply than
expected, Reuters calculations showed. []
Equity markets rose after the Bush administration said it
could be willing to provide emergency aid to the teetering US
auto industry, keeping open the prospects for a bailout the day
after Congress failed to approve a deal. []
The euro rose to a two-month high against the dollar on
Monday, in the wake of recent comments by European Central Bank
policymakers that have cast some doubt on how soon the ECB nay
lower interest rates again. []
(Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore;
Editing by Ben Tan)
