REFILE-UPDATE 1-Oil hovers above $36, demand worries nag

                                
 (Refiles to fix cross-reference in paragraph 2)
                                
 * U.S. stimulus bill cleared for House, Senate to vote
                                
 * IEA cuts global oil demand from previous forecast
                                
 * U.S. crude stockpiles rise more than expected
 (Updates prices, analyst's comments)
                                
 By Fayen Wong
                                
 PERTH, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Oil held above $36 a barrel on
Thursday, pausing after steep overnight losses, as lingering
worries over the health of the global economy and forecasts for
a hefty fall in global energy demand weighed on sentiment.
                                
 Most Asian markets slid on Thursday despite the U.S.
Congress having reached a deal on $789 billion in new spending
and tax cuts on Wednesday, with investors remaining wary about
the global economic outlook [TOPWRAP].
                                
 Investors will now train their eyes on U.S. weekly jobless
claims and January retail sales data due later in the day,
which will give a clearer indication of how the U.S. economy is
faring.
                                
 U.S. light crude for March delivery <CLc1> crept up 11
cents to $36.05 a barrel by 0655 GMT. The contract settled down
$1.61, or 4.3 percent, on Wednesday.
                                
 London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 75 cents to $45.03,
stretching its rare premium over U.S. oil to near record levels
of above $9 hit last month.
                                
 "The market isn't too impressed by the stimulus package.
After all the bearish data last night, it's pretty obvious that
global energy demand will taper off quite quickly," said
Michelle Kwek, an analyst at Informa Global Markets in
Singapore.
                                
 "The underlying fundamentals for oil remain week and it's
unlikely that we'll see any economic recovery in the near
term."
                                
 Oil has tumbled around 10 percent this week, having fallen
four sessions in a row since last Friday, on demand worries and
fears the U.S. bank rescue plan would not go far enough to
revive the ailing financial sector.
                                
 Oil prices took a battering on Wednesday after the U.S.
Energy Information Administration said domestic crude stocks
had ballooned 4.7 million barrels to 350.8 million in the week
to Feb. 6, against a forecast for a rise of 3.1 million.
[EIA/S]
                                
 The latest increase in U.S. crude stocks comes on the heels
of a combined rise of more than 13 million barrels in the prior
two weeks, and crude inventories are now moving significantly
above their five-year range, BNP Paribas said in a report.
                                
 Oil's losses were further exacerbated by a separate report
from the International Energy Agency forecasting global demand
to contract by nearly a million barrels per day (bpd) -- the
most since 1982 -- to 84.7 million bpd in 2009. [ID:nWLA7108]
                                
 Underlining the damage caused by the global financial
crisis, data showed global trade activity in goods and
commodities had tumbled.
                                
 The United States reported a fifth straight monthly fall in
exports and imports in December, while China's January exports
fell 17.5 percent from a year earlier, a sharp acceleration
from a 2.8 percent dip in December. Imports plummeted 43
percent, twice as much as in the previous month.
[ID:nPEK263772]
 (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)