* 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 with API report, price action after the settlement)
By Joshua Schneyer
NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Oil fell by more than 3
percent on Tuesday from near a 15-month high after China raised
bank reserve requirements to keep the economy from growing too
fast, and as cold weather that had been supporting U.S. fuel
demand began to subside.
Further pressure on crude came from data from the American
Petroleum Institute released late in the day, which showed
builds in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate inventories.
U.S. crude for February delivery <CLc1> fell $1.73 to
settle at $80.79 a barrel, before the API data pushed it below
$80 a barrel in post-settlement activity. In London, Brent
crude <LCOc1> fell $1.67 to settle at $79.30.
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."
Crude fell early on expectations of milder winter weather
in the United States after an early January cold snap pushed up
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.
[]
Data from the API showed U.S. crude oil inventories rose by
1.2 million barrels last week, in line with analyst
expectations. Distillate supplies -- including heating oil --
showed a surprise 3.6 million barrel build despite cold
weather, against forecasts for a 1.8 million barrel draw.
[]
Gasoline stockpiles rose by 6.8 million barrels, well over
analysts forecasts for a 1.2 million-barrel rise. The builds
sent crude down to below $80 a barrel in late post-settlement
trade -- off more than 3 percent on the day.
Traders were also awaiting the release of inventory from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
[]
The EIA 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.
[] The economic crisis has clipped demand and
swelled inventories in the United States and other developed
economies.
Deutsche Bank said in a research note that it expects
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.
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, and Gene Ramos in New York; Editing by
David Gregorio)
