Oil falls to four-year low below $80, awaits OPEC

By Christopher Johnson

LONDON (Reuters) - Brent crude oil fell to a four-year low below $80 a barrel on Thursday after Chinese data showed a further slowdown in activity in the world's biggest energy consumer and Saudi Arabia remained silent about a possible cut in production.

China's economy lost momentum in October, with factory growth dipping and investment growth hitting a near 13-year low, reinforcing expectations of a slower increase in fuel demand from emerging nations.

Developing economies had been a major support for oil over the past decade, but demand is now failing to keep up with increasing supply from North American shale production.

Brent crude for December, which expires on Thursday, fell $1.03 a barrel to $79.35, its lowest since September 2010, before recovering slightly to around $79.50 by 1200 GMT. U.S. light crude was down 40 cents at $76.78 a barrel.

"There are not many bullish factors," said Avtar Sandu, senior manager for commodities at Phillip Futures.

Demand for oil from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will drop to 29.2 million barrels per day (bpd) next year, almost 1 million bpd less than current output, the cartel said this week.

OPEC members meet in Vienna on Nov. 27, when they will consider how to respond to a 30 percent fall in oil prices over the past five months. Some have said they want a cut in output, but the most powerful member, Saudi Arabia, has refrained from backing that view, prompting speculation that it is more concerned with keeping market share than supporting prices.

"We do not set the oil price. The market sets the prices," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday.

Commerzbank oil and commodities analyst Carsten Fritsch said some traders understood that comment to mean that Saudi Arabia would let prices fall further. "That is sort of benign neglect - at least that is what the market thinks," Fritsch said.

Swiss oil market consultant Olivier Jakob said Saudi Arabia might be willing to let prices fall as low as $75 a barrel before acting to stabilise the market.

U.S. crude stocks fell by 1.5 million barrels last week to 373 million, against analysts' expectations of an 800,000 barrel increase, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed.

Weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be published at 1600 GMT. [EIA/S]

(Additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Singapore; Editing by Dale Hudson and David Goodman)