UPDATE 9-Oil falls over $1 as U.S. inventories rise

                                
 * EIA data shows crude inventories at 16-year high
                                
 * OPEC trims March output, but still above target
                                
 * Market braces for further U.S. job losses
                                
 (Updates prices at settlement)
                                
 By Edward McAllister
                                
 NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Oil fell more than $1 a
barrel on Wednesday, as U.S. data showed crude stocks were at a
fresh 16-year high after growing again last week.
                                
 U.S crude futures <CLc1>  settled down $1.27 a barrel at
$48.39, eroding Tuesday's 2.6 percent gain. London Brent crude
<LCOc1> settled down 79 cents at $48.44
                                
 The Energy Information Administration data showed a 2.8
million barrel increase in crude oil inventories. [EIA/S]
                                
 Gasoline stockpiles increased by 2.2 million barrels,
running counter to forecasts of a 1.4 million-barrel decline.
                                
"There is no indication in these (EIA) numbers that the
economy is strengthening. It looks like more of the same," said
Joseph Arsenio, managing director at Arsenio Capital Management
in Larkspur, California.
                                
 Oil prices have fallen $100 from highs above $147 a barrel
in July 2008 as the economic downturn dents global energy
demand.
                                
 U.S private sector job losses accelerated in March to
742,000, more than economists' expectations, according to a
report by ADP Employer Services. [ID:nN01407201]
                                
 The U.S. economy is bracing for job data from the U.S.
Labor Department on Friday which monitors public and private
sector job losses in the world's largest energy consumer.
                                
 OPEC COMPLIANCE
                                
 Producer group OPEC reached agreements in September to
remove 4.2 million barrels per day to stem the slide in oil
prices, and has delivered almost 80 percent of the promised
reduction.
                                
 Reuters latest survey put compliance at 79 percent for
March, the seventh consecutive month in which the group's
output has declined. [ID:nL1223519]
                                
 In deciding not to lower its output targets further in
March, OPEC said it was giving the world a chance to recover
from the economic downturn and looked ahead to this week's G20
meeting in London to stimulate the economy and help shore up
fuel demand. [ID:nL1545444]
                                
 Few expect instant results, but many analysts say OPEC,
which meets again at the end of May to reassess the situation,
has taken out enough oil to bolster prices.
                                
 In the immediate term the demand outlook is weak, and a
flurry of bearish economic news emerged on Wednesday that
weighed on stock markets and added pressure on oil prices.
                                
 Business confidence in Japan, the world's second largest
economy and the third largest oil consumer, tumbled faster than
ever in the first quarter to its worst on record, the Bank of
Japan's Tankan corporate survey showed. [ID:nT188568]
                                
 Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
Dominique Strauss-Kahn predicted the world economy would
contract between 0.5 and 1 percent this year, following on from
IMF reports predicting a decrease of up to one percent this
year. [ID:nL1716586]
 (Additional reporting by Christopher Baldwin in London Ikuko
Kao and Barbara Lewis in London and Fayen Wong in Perth;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)