Oil falls towards $53 ahead of OPEC meeting

                                
 * Oil falls by more than $1 ahead of OPEC meeting
                                
 * OPEC to meet in Cairo on Saturday but cut uncertain
                                
 * OPEC seaborne exports down 340,000 bpd in week to Dec.13
                                
 By Maryelle Demongeot
                                
 SINGAPORE, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Oil fell towards $53 a barrel
on Friday as OPEC ministers prepared to meet in Cairo to
discuss potential further supply cuts as the global economic
slowdown eats into oil demand.
                                
 The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries,
which is to hold an informal meeting on Saturday in Cairo, is
struggling to slice output fast enough to keep pace with a
recessionary reduction in fuel demand in the West that has sent
crude prices down nearly two-thirds since July. [ID:[nLR270744]
                                
 U.S. light crude for January delivery <CLc1> fell to $53.53
barrel by 0208 GMT, having fallen by more than $1.00 earlier,
and down 91 cents from its settlement on Wednesday. The NYMEX
trading floor was closed on Thursday in the United States for
the Thanksgiving Day holiday, though Globex trading continued.
                                
 London Brent crude <LCOc1> settled 79 cents lower on
Thursday at $53.13. It was down 48 cents at $52.65.
                                
 "We are waiting for OPEC. Some of the member countries are
pushing for a cut but that is not acceptable to consuming
countries. It is too early to see if economic sentiment is
turning," said Tetsu Emori, fund manager at Astmax Co Ltd.
                                
 Several OPEC delegates have said in the run-up to this
latest gathering that it was likely only to measure compliance
with the cuts made since September and leave a decision on a
further reduction until its next policy-setting meeting on Dec.
17 in Algeria.
                                
 But Shokri Ghanem, the head of the Libyan OPEC delegation,
said another immediate cut should not be ruled out and warned
that oil prices may have further to fall before a rebound.
                                
 OPEC has already slashed a combined 2 million barrels
daily, 7.3 percent of its production, at two meetings in the
past two months.
                                
 OPEC seaborne oil exports excluding Angola and Ecuador,
will drop 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks to
Dec. 13 to their lowest level this year, an oil analyst who
tracks future flows said on Thursday. [ID:nENG000450]
                                
 Roy Mason of British consultancy Oil Movements said in his
latest estimate that this was the strongest evidence yet that
either OPEC was curbing supply or that demand had been
seriously hit by the economic downturn.
                                
 Oil fundamentals remain weak, with demand in the United
States falling in September to its lowest level for any month
in more than a decade.
                                
 Total U.S. product demand over the past four weeks was down
6.6 percent from year-ago levels, while September oil demand
fell by 12.8 percent versus a year ago to its lowest point in
12 years, the U.S. Enery Information Administration said
earlier this week.