* Goldman cuts 2009 oil price forecast
* Fears for automakers hits Wall Street
* OPEC president calls for "severe" output cuts
(Updates prices)
By Jane Merriman
LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $45 a barrel on
Friday, after the collapse of a $14 billion rescue plan for U.S.
automakers caused heavy losses across global financial markets
and Goldman Sachs predicted oil could drop as low as $30.
U.S. crude oil for January delivery <CLc1> was down $3.22 at
$44.76 a barrel by 1604 GMT.
The losses wiped out gains made on Thursday, when prices
rallied more than $4 to a session high of $49.12 a barrel before
dropping back in late trading.
Oil sank to $40.50 last Friday, its lowest in 4 years.
London Brent crude was down $2.80 at $44.59.
U.S. shares slid at the open, pressured by the uncertainty
over the survival of the country's automakers. []
The plight of the big U.S. auto firms, including General
Motors Corp and Chrysler, illustrates the severity of the global
economic downturn that has hit demand for oil.
"The collapse in world oil demand in the fourth quarter of
2008 as the global credit crunch intensified, now threatens to
push oil prices below $40 a barrel in the near term," Goldman
Sachs said in a research note.
"The impact of the global economic recession has swung the
oil market from pricing demand destruction in 2008 to pricing
supply destruction in 2009."
OPEC
The U.S. bank, which earlier this year had predicted $200
per barrel oil, virtually halved its 2009 price forecast for
U.S. crude to $45 and said the price could fall to $30 in the
short term. []
Goldman analyst Arjun Murti, who predicted a super-spike in
oil to $100 in 2005, said prices would hit a trough in the first
quarter.
The bank said a cut of an extra 2 million barrels per day
was needed from OPEC, which meets next on Dec. 17 in Algeria.
French bank BNP Paribas cut its 2009 price forecast to $53 a
barrel from $75 previously. []
Crude has shed two-thirds of its value over the last five
months, down about $100 from a record of $147.27 in July.
It rebounded more than 10 percent on Thursday in
anticipation of a big supply cut from the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries.
OPEC's President Chakib Khelil has called for more "severe"
supply cuts at next week's meeting.[]
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev also weighed in, saying
the country was ready to work with OPEC on possible oil output
cuts. []
Japan's Nippon Oil said it expected OPEC to agree to cut
1.5-2.0 million bpd next week.
"Chances for a 2.5 mln bpd cut are possible, but that would
put increased criticism on OPEC amidst the economic slowdown, so
I think the likely cuts are up to 2 mln bpd," Kazuyoshi
Takayama, Nippon Oil's general manager, told reporters in Tokyo.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in Singapore and Osamu
Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by Peter Blackburn and James Jukwey)
