* Milder U.S. winter sends oil down from 15-month peak
* China raises bank reserve requirements
* EIA cuts forecast for oil demand rise in 2010
* U.S. distillate stocks to fall, crude to rise-Poll
(Updates prices and details.)
By Joshua Schneyer
NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Oil fell by more than $2 a
barrel on Tuesday from 15-month highs after China raised bank
reserve requirements to keep the economy from growing too fast,
and as cold weather that was supporting U.S. fuel demand began
to subside.
Surging Chinese oil demand had helped push oil prices to a
15-month high near $84 a barrel on Monday. China's oil imports
rose to a record of more than 5 million barrels per day in
December. []
China, the world's No. 2 oil consumer, raised the
proportion of deposits that banks must hold in reserve by 0.5
percentage point in a move to stem inflation threats. Slower
economic expansion in China could cut the pace of fuel demand
growth. []
"China may be trying to limit its growth rate," said Gene
McGillian of Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
"Asian oil demand has been growing fast, but we haven't
really seen demand growth kick in in the United States or
Europe."
U.S. crude for February delivery <CLc1> fell $1.98 to
$81.54 a barrel at 2:04 p.m. EST (1904 GMT), after hitting
$83.95 on Monday. In London, Brent crude <LCOc1> fell $2.03 to
$78.94.
Milder winter weather in the United States, the largest oil
consumer, may cut heating oil demand. A weather pattern change
during the next several days will bring an end to the very cold
weather across the central and eastern United States, DTN
Meteorlogix said Tuesday. []
After oil prices hit a 15-month high on Monday, "It's time
for the financial investors to take profits," said Commerzbank
analyst Carsten Fritsch. "The prospect of milder temperatures
may be another argument to take profit now."
Deutsche Bank, in a research note, said it expected
fundamentals of oil supply, demand and inventories -- which
remain well above five-year averages -- to assert heavier
influence on prices in 2010, tempering any price rallies.
"In our view, this would mean that rallies in the oil price
above $80 a barrel will only become sustainable in 2011,"
Deutsche said in a 2010 commodities outlook.
The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration, in
a monthly report Tuesday, cut a previous forecast for world oil
demand growth in 2010 by 20,000 barrels a day, although it
still predicts demand growth of 1.08 million barrels a day
versus last year. []
While oil inventories are brimming due to a year of falling
global demand and ample supply, weekly U.S. data due on Tuesday
and Wednesday is expected to show the icy weather has eroded
stockpiles of distillates, which include diesel and heating
oil. Crude stocks were expected to rise. []
Oil prices have risen from just below $75 on Dec. 22, when
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided
to leave its output policy unchanged. It meets next in March.
The oil price is "fantastic" and oil demand is rising,
Kuwait's oil minister, Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, told
reporters on Tuesday. "Next meeting will be the same... no
change of course," he said. []
(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Alejandro
Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
