* IEA predicts 2009 oil demand growth after 2008
contraction
* Saudi Nov. oil output complies with OPEC target-oil min
* OPEC should make more severe output cut-president
(Updates prices, changes dateline, pvs LONDON)
NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $47 a barrel on
Thursday after the International Energy Agency predicted global
growth in oil demand would resume in 2009 and the Saudi oil
minister said OPEC's top exporter pumped less oil than expected
last month.
World oil demand growth would return in 2009 after
shrinking this year for the first time since 1983, the IEA,
which advises 28 industrialised nations on energy policy, said
in a monthly report. It also cut forecasts for supply outside
OPEC next year. []
"We knew the bad bits, demand down, but the supply
downgrade was supportive," said Rob Laughlin of MF Global.
U.S. crude <CLc1> was up $3.55 to $47.07 a barrel by 11:57
a.m. EST (1657 GMT), after climbing $1.45 to settle at $43.52
on Wednesday. European benchmark Brent crude <LCOc1> was up
$3.80 to $46.20.
Oil also rose as the U.S. dollar weakened after data on
weekly U.S. jobless claims came in worse than expected.
[] A weak dollar can boost investor demand for oil
and other dollar denominated commodities.
The IEA's view that demand would grow in 2009 contrasts
with that of the U.S. government's Energy Information
Administration, which this week forecast consumption would fall
by 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year.
The Paris-based IEA also lowered forecasts for supply from
outside OPEC in 2009, leading to a 200,000 bpd increase in the
amount it said OPEC needs to pump to balance the market.
SAUDI OUTPUT
Also boosting prices, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said
the world's largest exporter pumped 8.49 million bpd of oil in
November, less than estimated by analysts and in line with its
OPEC target.
"We will give you the November number because that's what
everybody is looking for," Naimi said during a visit to Poznan,
Poland. "It's 8,493,300 barrels per day."
That would put the kingdom's output in line with its
implied OPEC target of 8.47 million bpd and is 560,000 bpd less
than the IEA's estimate of Saudi November production, published
earlier on Thursday, of 9.05 million bpd.
Industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday they expected
January shipments to be below Saudi's existing OPEC target,
implying it expects OPEC to agree a further supply cut when the
producer group meets in Algeria on Dec. 17.
OPEC's president raised expectations that a large cut in
supplies is coming.
The group should agree a more "severe" reduction in output
at the meeting next week in Algeria, OPEC President Chakib
Khelil said in remarks published on Thursday, which made no
mention of a figure. []
Russia, which will attend the Algerian meeting as an
observer amid calls from some members for Moscow to join in
output curbs, said on Wednesday it will present its own
proposal at the talks.
Oil has fallen by more than $100 a barrel from a record
high of $147.27 reached in the summer.
(Reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Anna Mudeva in Poznan and
Jennifer Tan in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
