* World oil demand to fall at fastest rate since 1981 - IEA
* OPEC compliance with supply cuts slipping - IEA
* Markets eye U.S. jobless claims due at 1230 GMT
* European equities follow Wall Street, Asia lower
(Updates prices, changes dateline to London from Singapore)
LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $57 a barrel on
Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said global
oil consumption will fall this year at the fastest rate since
1981.
The Paris-based IEA, adviser to 28 industrialised nations,
said the rise in oil prices to a six-month high above $60 this
week was due to sentiment rather than supply and demand
fundamentals, with consumption set to fall by 2.56 million
barrels per day (bpd) in 2009.
"The oil price seems to have moved a bit higher in the past
month largely on the basis of equity markets and sentiment about
potential economic recovery," David Fyfe, head of the IEA's Oil
Industry and Markets Division, told Reuters.
"But we're not seeing it in terms of the preliminary demand
data for early 2009."
U.S. crude <CLc1> fell $1.20 to $56.82 a barrel at 0957 GMT,
having hit $60 a barrel on Tuesday.
London Brent <LCOc1> fell $1.16 to $56.18.
The agency said oil demand is expected to average 83.2
million bpd in 2009, down from its previous monthly forecast of
83.4 million bpd. Crude stockpiles in developed countries have
risen to their highest since 1993 due to the global recession.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), which has announced 4.2 million bpd of production cuts
since September in a bid to tighten the market, also pumped more
oil in April than in March, the IEA said.
OPEC members' compliance with production quotas has fallen
to 78 percent in April from 83 percent a month earlier.
Oil prices have tracked equities markets closely in recent
months as traders looked for signs of an economic recovery that
could lift ailing world fuel demand. A rally in stock markets
this year has helped lift crude prices almost 80 percent from a
January low of $32.70.
European shares tracked losses on Wall Street and in Asia
ahead of the release of U.S. jobless claims figures due at 1230
GMT.
"We're at a point in the economic cycle where the oil market
is taking its cue from equity markets. It's not quite focused on
fundamentals of the market," Ben Westmore, commodity analyst at
National Australia Bank, said.
NIGERIA UNREST
Unrest in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, provided
some support for prices. Nigeria's main militant group on
Thursday gave oil companies in the Niger Delta an additional 48
hours to evacuate their staff and threatened to attack
helicopters and planes after the deadline. []
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
on Wednesday had ordered oil workers in Africa's biggest oil
producer to leave the delta within 24 hours following heavy
clashes between MEND and security forces.
A security source working in the oil industry said it was
taking the threat seriously, but there were no plans to evacuate
staff.
(Reporting David Sheppard in London and Chua Baizhen in
Singapore; editing by William Hardy)
