* IMF set for sharp cuts in global growth forecasts
* Reuters poll shows global demand to fall sharply in 2009
* Focus on bearish demand; U.S. crude stocks seen up
* February contract expires up 6 percent on short-covering
(Updates prices, adds details)
By David Sheppard
LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Oil hovered around $41 a barrel
on Wednesday, as further evidence emerged of a deepening global
slowdown that is crushing demand for fuel.
U.S. light crude for March delivery <CLc1> was 36 cents
higher at $41.20 a barrel by 1613 GMT on its first day as the
new front month contract.
The February contract, which expired on Tuesday, settled up
$2.23, or about 6 percent, at $38.74 a barrel, on
short-covering.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 18 cents to $43.80 a barrel.
"We're consolidating a little bit after yesterday's late
bounce on the February contract expiry," said Andrey
Kryuchenkov, vice president commodities research at VTB Capital
in London.
"Sentiment continues to be very bearish as strong demand
just doesn't look like emerging in the current climate."
The International Monetary Fund is set to sharply cut growth
forecasts this month and the world will not return to strong
growth for two to three years, IMF Managing-Director Dominique
Strauss-Kahn said on Wednesday. []
FALLING DEMAND
A Reuters poll of 10 analysts, banks and industry groups on
Wednesday showed that global oil demand is expected to contract
more sharply in 2009 than previously expected, as the deepening
economic crisis spreads to the developing world. []
World oil demand is predicted to fall by 430,000 barrels per
day (bpd) in 2009 to 85.43 million bpd, with demand growth in
emerging economies falling by more than half compared to 2008.
China, one engine in the six-year commodity price rally
that started in 2002, was expected to release fourth-quarter GDP
data this week that economists say will show 7.0 percent growth,
the slowest pace of expansion in nearly a decade for the world's
third-biggest economy. []
Oil has plunged from record highs above $147 a barrel in
July as oil consumption has dropped, prompting the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to agree to a series
of output cuts.
OPEC is fully enforcing its deepest ever oil supply curbs,
which should be enough to boost prices, the group's president,
Angolan oil minister Botelho de Vasconcelos, told Reuters.
[]
But prices remain at levels not seen since 2004.
Another Reuters poll of analysts forecast that crude oil
stocks in the United States, the world's biggest energy
consumer, rose by 1.4 million barrels last week, with distillate
stocks seen down 1.4 million barrels due to cold winter weather.
Gasoline stocks are expected to be up 2.1 million barrels,
up 5.1 million barrels from a year ago.
Data will be released on Thursday, a day later than usual,
following the U.S. holiday on Monday honoring civil rights
leader Martin Luther King Jr. []
(Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore;
Editing by Anthony Barker)
