Oil steadies around $44 ahead of jobs data

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By Christopher Johnson

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil steadied around $44 on Friday, not far off its lowest level in almost four years, as financial markets awaited U.S. jobs data for clues to the state of demand in the world's biggest oil consumer.

U.S. non-farm payrolls data was due at 1330 GMT (8:30 a.m. EST) and expected to show an increase of more than 300,000 in unemployment claims in November as weakening consumer and business demand prompted companies to cut jobs to reduce costs.

Oil prices have lost almost 20 percent from their settlement a week ago, and are on course for their steepest weekly decline since March 2003, following the last set of U.S. economic data.

U.S. light crude for January delivery slipped to a low of $43.39 a barrel, down 28 cents, but later recovered to trade around $44.42 at 1130 GMT (6:30 a.m. EST). The contract lost more than 6 percent on Thursday to settle at $43.67, the lowest since January 5, 2005.

London Brent crude rose 86 cents to $43.17.

"The U.S. figures could set the tone if they are bad and start to push the financial markets aggressively," said Tony Machacek, dealer as U.S. broker Bache Financial.

$40 A BARREL

Many dealers and analysts expect oil to test the psychologically important $40 a barrel level fairly soon as evidence mounts of a significant decline in oil demand in all the major developed economies.

U.S. and European companies announced further job cuts on Thursday, with U.S. phone company AT&T Inc saying it would eliminate 12,000 jobs, while chemical maker DuPont Co planned to drop 2,500.

Leading U.S. retailers also reported dismal November sales on Thursday. Totting up the results, the International Council of Shopping Centers said sales fell by a record 2.7 percent compared to the same period last year.

To try and ginger up their feeble economies, European central banks cut interest rates on Thursday.

Sweden's central bank cut by a record 175 basis points, the European Central Bank cut by 75 points and the Bank of England cut by 100 points.

The price fall to nearly four-year lows has prompted OPEC members to call for increasingly strong action when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets next, on December 17 in Algeria.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil told Algerian state television on Thursday that the oil-producing group should cut oil output by a significant amount at the meeting if prices remain at their current level.

But analysts say another OPEC cut, the third since September, would need to be drastic to provoke a price reaction.

"Cumulatively, OPEC is behind the curve by 4-5 million barrels per day (bpd). They really need to cut by 2.5 to 3 million barrels to have any impact on prices at the next meeting. Less than 1.5 million will mean another sell off," Edward Meir, commodities analyst at MF Global said.

(Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot and Nick Trevethan in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)

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