* U.S. crude, gasoline stocks seen rising in EIA report
* U.S. middle distillates expected to fall
* China 2008 GDP growth slowest in seven years
(Updates throughout)
By Farah Master
LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $44 a barrel on
Thursday, supported by wintry weather in the northern hemisphere
and reports of lower supply, but traders were wary ahead of U.S.
data expected to show a build in crude inventories.
U.S. crude oil stocks are expected to have risen by 1.4
million barrels and gasoline by 1.9 million barrels in weekly
data due later on Thursday. []
Traders were looking for news of the oil storage levels at
the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for NYMEX crude, which
have been a drag on the nearby contract for U.S. crude futures.
U.S. light crude for March delivery <CLc1> rose $1.25 to a
high of $44.80 before slipping back to $44.67 by 1000 GMT. On
Wednesday the contract jumped $2.71 to its highest closing price
since Jan. 6.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was up $1.13 at $46.15 a barrel.
Tony Machacek, broker at Bache Commodities in London, said
the market was being supported by a variety of factors,
including stronger demand for heating fuel and a rally on
European and U.S. stock markets, which boosted sentiment.
"Stock markets look less shaky than at the beginning of the
week," he said.
The oil market is paying close attention to crude supplied
by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries, which have pledged to cut output in an attempt to
bolster global markets.
OPEC President and Angolan oil minister Botelho de
Vasconcelos told Reuters this week the 12-member group was fully
enforcing its deepest ever oil supply curbs and this should be
enough to boost prices. []
DEMAND FALLING
But analysts say the 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of
cuts OPEC has promised since September may not be enough to turn
the tide on a market that has plunged from a record high above
$147 a barrel in July, as the global economic crisis hits
consumption.
Global oil demand is expected to contract more sharply this
year than previously expected, as the deepening economic crisis
spreads to the developing world, a Reuters poll said on
Wednesday. World oil demand will decline by 430,000 bpd in 2009
to 85.43 million bpd, it said. []
The International Monetary Fund is set to sharply cut growth
forecasts this month, Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn
said on Wednesday. []
The decline in demand is particularly evident in the United
States, where the government said U.S. motorists drove 5.3
percent fewer miles in November than they did a year ago, a
record decline for the month. []
Further indications of the ailing state of demand came from
the world's No. 2 oil consumer, with China reporting growth of
just 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, just shy of market
expectations for 7.0 percent. For the whole of 2008, the economy
expanded by 9.0 percent, the slowest rate in seven years.
While Chinese crude oil imports in December rose 11.6
percent, refinery production rates fell 7.4 percent from a year
earlier, the biggest such drop in seven-and-a-half years,
pushing apparent oil demand 5.5 percent lower versus a year ago.
(Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson; editing by James
Jukwey)
