* Oil down by more than $1 after 10 pct gain in two days
* Focus on Saturday OPEC meeting; cut may not come this week
(Updates prices, previous SINGAPORE)
LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Oil slipped below $53 a barrel on
Tuesday, after a near-10 percent rally the previous session,
propelled by a rebound in world stock markets as well as
expectations of another OPEC output cut.
Oil prices ended 9.1 percent up on Monday, racking up their
biggest two-day gain in two months after Washington agreed to
pump $20 billion into struggling Citigroup <C.N>, the
second-largest U.S. bank.
Oil has not risen for more than two days in a row since
mid-September.
Prices have tumbled by nearly $100 from their record high of
more than $147 in July as the global economic crisis has eaten
into demand in consumer nations.
U.S. light crude for January delivery <CLc1> was $1.70 down
at $52.80 a barrel by 0910 GMT, having rebounded from a three
and half year low of of $48.25 on Friday. London Brent crude
<LCOc1> was $1.74 lower at $52.19 a barrel.
Oil traders are looking ahead to Saturday's informal OPEC
meeting in Cairo for further action from the producer group.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed
a 1.5 million barrels per day cut in oil production from Nov. 1,
supply curbs that may not be fully felt until December or even
January when oil reaches refineries worldwide.
Analysts were divided over whether further action from OPEC
was imminent, with 8 of 15 oil analysts polled by Reuters saying
OPEC would likely wait until its policy-setting meeting in Oran
on Dec. 17 to tighten supplies further. []
OPEC AND COLD WEATHER
"The only support is coming from OPEC. And the market might
have to wait for the second cut," said French bank Societe
Generale in a research report.
The weakness of the oil market calls for another OPEC cut
of more than 1 million bpd, the group's president, Chakib
Khelil, said on Monday, but added the precise amount would only
become clear in December. []
Cold weather in the United States could provide seasonal
support. The drop in temperatures is expected to send demand for
heating oil, concentrated in the Northeast, 10 percent above
normal this week, according to the National Weather Service.
[]
Stronger winter demand may also be reflected in U.S. oil and
products data, to be released on Wednesday by the Energy
Information Administration (EIA).
Stocks of distillates -- which include heating oil -- are
likely to have fallen by 1 million barrels, according to a
Reuters poll. Crude stocks are likely to have risen by 400,000
barrels and gasoline stocks by 700,000 barrels in the week to
Nov. 21.[]
"Cold weather and OPEC are supportive. But underlying demand
fundamentals are bearish," Societe Generale said.
Despite news that average U.S. gasoline pump prices had
fallen below $2 for the first time since March 2005, the AAA
motorist group forecast last week that Thanksgiving travel will
decline this year for first time since 2002.
(Reporting by Jane Merriman in London and Maryelle Demongeot in
Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)
