* IMF cuts global growth forecast
* Goldman raises China '09 GDP growth forecast to 8.3 pct
* US crude stocks up 3.9 mln barrels last week
(Adds U.S. data, updates prices)
By Jane Merriman
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Oil fell towards $48 a barrel
on Wednesday, after a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. crude
oil stocks last week.
Prices had already come under pressure when the
International Monetary Fund cut its 2009 global growth forecast
and said the world was in a severe recession.
U.S. crude for June delivery <CLc1> stood 56 cents lower at
$47.99 a barrel at 1447 GMT, off a session low of $47.70 and a
session high of $49.09.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 79 cents to $49.03 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed a 3.9
million barrel rise in crude oil stocks last week, more than the
2.6 million barrel rise forecast by analysts. []
Gasoline and distillate stocks also rose unexpectedly.
"It's pretty ugly," said Tom Bentz, senior commodity
analyst, of BNP Paribas Commodity Futures. "Inventories keep
building and we have too much of everything."
Demand is weak because of the world economic recession.
The IMF predicted in its latest World Economic Outlook that
the global economy will shrink by 1.3 percent in 2009. In
January, the organisation had forecast global growth of 0.5
percent this year. []
Oil prices had drawn some support earlier in the day from
expectations of a recovery in economic growth in China, the
world's second-biggest energy consumer.
China's central bank has predicted a recovery in economic
growth this year, despite the country's gross domestic product
slowing in the first quarter to 6.1 percent from a year earlier,
the lowest rate on record.
Goldman Sachs has raised its forecast for China GDP growth
this year to 8.3 percent from 6.0 percent. []
HIGH STOCKS
Despite optimism about China, oil demand is falling,
illustrated by the latest import data from Japan and South
Korea. [][]
"Arguably the biggest uncertainty in the oil market at the
moment is the economy," Lawrence Eagles, oil analyst at JP
Morgan said in a research note.
"But even assuming a tentative second-half 2009 recovery,
some of the latest bleak demand data suggest that without a
further OPEC cut, we may not see a significant stock draw until
4Q09."
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is
concerned about the oversupply, Libya's top oil official said.
"We are worried about the overhang," Shokri Ghanem, chairman of
Libya's National Oil Corp., told Reuters.
OPEC meets next on May 28.
Independent oil tanker owner Frontline has estimated oil
companies are storing close to 100 million barrels of crude oil
at sea -- the highest in recent times. []
Oil has fallen around $100 a barrel since a record above
$147 hit in July last year, but has risen more than 40 percent
since mid-February, partly because of signs of compliance by
OPEC members over agreed supply cuts.
Since then, it has traded in a narrow band, with few
convincing signs of a recovery in demand, while stocks of oil
are still rising.
(Additional reporting by Baizhen Chua in Singapore; editing by
James Jukwey and Sue Thomas)
