UPDATE 10-Oil fall $1 to lowest since May 2007, demand weighs

                                
 * Financial crisis, weakening demand drags down crude
                                
 * China apparent oil demand at 10-month low
                                
 * Refiners wait for evidence of OPEC cuts
 (Updates throughout)
                                
 By Bernie Woodall
                                
 LOS ANGELES, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly $1
to an 18-month low on Monday as slumping demand and the growing
financial crisis offset OPEC plans to cut output.
                                
 U.S. crude <CLc1> fell 93 cents to $63.22 a barrel, the
lowest settlement price since since May 29, 2007. London Brent
crude <LCOc1> settled down 64 cents to $61.41 a barrel.
                                
 Oil prices have dropped by nearly 60 percent from a record
high $147.27 a barrel in July as global economic turmoil dents
world fuel consumption.
                                
 Demand has fallen in the United States, the world's top
energy consumer, and in other industrial countries as the
credit crisis infects the wider economy and begins to spread to
emerging markets.
                                
 In China, apparent oil demand rose by just over 2 percent
in September, the slowest growth in 10 months. [nPEK2698]
                                
 More U.S. banks lined up for government cash on Monday and
the Group of Seven expressed concern the soaring Japanese yen
posed a threat to financial and economic stability as recession
worries spread worldwide. [nLR268373]
                                
 U.S. stocks slid on Monday amid growing concerns about the
severity of a global economic slowdown and the bleak outlook
for corporate profits. [nN27342079]
                                
 "It's unbelievable how closely we've been tracking
equities," said Andy Lebow, vice president at MF Global in New
York. "They're the dominating factor in the market right now
when everyone is trying to digest everything that has gone
on."
                                
 OPEC CUTS
                                
 Oil's losses came despite an agreement by the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries made on Friday to cut 1.5
million barrels per day of output.
                                
 "While we still have questions about the demand side of the
market, we should also appreciate that OPEC took significant
measures to balance the market," said Tim Evans of Citigroup
Futures Perspective.
                                
 Asian oil refiners said they had yet to receive notice of
any curbs on their Gulf crude oil shipments, but most were
expecting a 5 percent cut. [ID:nT140507]
                                
 Iran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi has said the
group would reduce production further if the cut agreed in
Vienna on Friday did not stabilize the market. [nBLA720214]
                                
 Traders were also eyeing moves by governments to combat the
global financial crisis. South Korea cut interest rates,
Australia intervened in the currency market and the U.S.
Federal Reserve set the interest rates for companies buying
commercial paper.
                                
 The volume of open contracts in energy, metals, grains and
soft commodities on major U.S. commodity futures markets fell
to its lowest since May 2006 in the week to Oct. 21, as the
risk of recession prompted some investors to pull out.
[nSP171419]
 (Additional reporting by Jane Merriman, Barbara Lewis and
David Sheppard in London and Fayen Wong in Perth)