Oil Falls as Asian Import Cuts Heighten Demand Slowdown Concern

By Grant Smith

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell as reduced imports by Asian refiners reinforced concerns that a demand slowdown is spreading to emerging markets.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia's biggest refiner, will process less crude at some plants because of falling fuel demand, its parent said today. South Korea imported 1.4 percent less crude oil in October as the global credit crisis sent shockwaves through Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

``Demand growth in the emerging markets seems to be slowing down massively,'' said Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. ``The outlook is disturbingly weak and alarming for commodity traders and investors.''

Crude oil for December delivery dropped as much as $1.27, or 1.9 percent, to $66.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $66.72 a barrel at 1:19 p.m. London time.

Oil climbed 5.7 percent last week, the first gain in five weeks, as the U.S. and China lowered interest rates to prop up economic growth. Crude has fallen 53 percent from its record $147.27 a barrel on July 11.

The United Arab Emirates has notified customers that they will receive less crude as a result of OPEC's Oct. 24 resolution to cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day, Oil Minister Mohamed al-Hamli told reporters in Abu Dhabi today.

Iran will cut crude oil sales to Total SA, Europe's third- largest oil company, by some 70,000 barrels per day, Iranian oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Nov. 2. Nigeria's national oil company announced shipment cuts of 5 percent in November and December last week.

Algeria Meeting

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, producer of more than 40 percent of the world's crude, is next due to meet on Dec. 17 in Algeria.

``Most market participants expect that oil supplies will tighten up in the months ahead,'' said Victor Shum, senior principal at energy consultant Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore.

Brent crude oil for December settlement dropped as much as $1.71, or 2.6 percent, to $63.61 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. It traded at $64.17 at 1:17 p.m. in London.

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators reversed from a net-long position to a net-short position in New York crude-oil futures in the week ended Oct. 28, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Speculative short positions, or bets prices will fall, outnumbered long positions by 8,406 contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Washington-based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. Last week, traders were net-long 483 contracts.

To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net