* OPEC to slash demand forecasts in lastest monthly report
* EIA report likely to confirm large jump in US crude stocks
(Recasts, adds analyst commnent, updates prices, pvs SINGAPORE)
By Jane Merriman
LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $50 a barrel on
Wednesday, ahead of OPEC's latest monthly market report, which
is expected to make a big cut in world oil demand forecasts.
The market is also awaiting the U.S. Energy Information
Administration's (EIA) weekly data, forecast to show a big jump
in crude oil stocks in the world's biggest energy consumer.
By 0900 GMT, U.S. crude for May delivery <CLc1> was up $1
at $50.41 a barrel, off a session low of $48.92.
ICE Brent crude <LCOc1> was up 82 cents at $52.78 a barrel.
"We suspect in the short-term, direction will be provided by
the EIA inventory numbers out later today," said Edward Meir of
futures broker MF Global.
"However, we still expect the US stock market to be the
intermediate price driver for most commodity complexes over the
next few weeks," he said in a research note.
A rally in equity markets this month on hopes the world
economic outlook might be brightening has helped boost oil,
despite its weak supply/demand fundmamentals.
European equity markets edged higher in early trading, after
heavy losses in the United States markets on Tuesday.'
DEMAND COLLAPSE
The global recession has hit oil demand which has been
contracting at a rate not seen since the early 1980s.
Both the International Energy Agency and the U.S. government
have just reduced their global demand forecasts.
Oil has fallen almost $100 from a record of more than $147 a
barrel in July last year. Prices have hovered in a $47-$54-range
for the past four weeks, having fallen as low as $32.40 in
December.
"The main worry is still the large weekly increase in crude
inventories," said Peter McGuire, the Managing Director of
Commodity Warrants Australia.
Industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) said on
Tuesday that U.S. domestic crude stocks had risen by 6.5 million
barrels last week, much higher than a 1.9 million-barrel
increase forecast in a Reuters poll. []
The U.S. EIA report, due at 1430 GMT, is likely to show that
U.S. crude oil supplies rose for the sixth consecutive week,
probably to the highest in almost 19 years, a Reuters poll of
analysts showed. []
A collapse in demand is behind the stock builds.
In its monthly outlook released on Tuesday, the EIA cut its
2009 world oil demand forecast by 180,000 barrels per day to
just over 84 million bpd. []
Last week, the International Energy Agency cut its world oil
demand forecast for 2009.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has
cut output by 4.2 million barrels per day since last September
to try to prop up prices.
(Reporting by Jane Merriman, Editing by Peter Blackburn)
