* Oil falls to lowest since February 2005
* European central banks set to cut interest rates
* U.S. stocks data shows unexpected crude and products draws
(Recasts, adds analyst comment, updates prices)
By Jane Merriman
LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Oil pared some losses on Thursday
after an early fall below $46 a barrel to its lowest in nearly
four years, in response to the bleak outlook for the world
economy and oil demand.
Oil prices have dropped more than $100 a barrel from an
all-time high of $147.27 hit in July.
U.S. light crude for January delivery <CLc1> was down 64
cents to $46.15 a barrel by 1139 GMT. It earlier touched a low
of $45.30, the lowest since Feb. 9, 2005.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was down 61 cents at $44.83.
Oil's fall since July has echoed the global economy's slide
towards recession and tracked global stock market trends.
"With the oil market looking at equity markets for guidance,
you need these to stabilise first before the oil market itself
can recover," said Harry Tchilinguirian, analyst at BNP Paribas.
"Most days, you look at S&P futures (U.S. equity futures) in
the morning and you get a hint of what crude futures will do,"
he said.
He said supply/demand factors such as OPEC supply cuts and
winter demand did not appear to be on the agenda at the moment.
European central banks are expected to cut interest rates on
Thursday to try to restore some vitality to their feeble
economies. []
Sweden's central bank has cut by a record 175 basis points,
prompting speculation of dramatic cuts elsewhere.
Oil producer group OPEC will consider another round of
output curbs to try to defend prices when it next meets on Dec.
17 in Algeria. []
"For sure we will cut in Oran (Algeria)," Qatar's oil
minister Abdullah al-Attiya said on Wednesday.
Oil rose briefly on Wednesday when U.S. Energy Information
Administration data revealed an unexpected fall in fuel
inventories last week in the world's top energy consumer.
Crude stocks, for example, fell 400,000 barrels in the week
to Nov. 28, against an expected 1.7 million barrels build.
[]
Stocks of gasoline and distillates, which include heating
oil, also showed surprise falls.
But U.S. refinery utilization fell 1.9 percentage points to
84.3 percent of capacity against a predicted rise of 0.2
percentage point, pointing to weak demand.
"Refiners began to cut processing rates significantly," Jan
Stuart, economist in New York for UBS, said in a report.
(Reporting by Jane Merriman in London and Maryelle Demongeot
in Singapore; editing by William Hardy)
