LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell below $46 a barrel to its lowest in nearly four years on Thursday, extending four consecutive days of declines in response to the bleak outlook for the world economy and oil demand.
Oil prices have dropped more than $100 a barrel from an all-time high of $147.27 hit in July.
U.S. light crude for January delivery was down 70 cents to $46.09 a barrel by 0946 GMT (4:46 a.m. EST). It earlier touched a low of $45.30, the lowest since February 9, 2005.
London Brent crude was down 81 cents at $44.63.
Prices briefly rose on Wednesday when U.S. Energy Information Administration data revealed an unexpected fall in fuel inventories last week in the world's top energy consumer.
Crude stocks, for example, fell 400,000 barrels in the week to November 28, against an expected 1.7 million barrels build.
Stocks of gasoline and distillates, which include heating oil, also showed surprise falls.
But U.S. refinery utilization fell 1.9 percentage points to 84.3 percent of capacity against a predicted rise of 0.2 percentage point, pointing to weak demand.
"Refiners began to cut processing rates significantly," Jan Stuart, economist in New York for UBS, said in a report.
Oil producer group OPEC will consider another round of output cuts to try to defend prices when it next meets on December 17 in Algeria.
"For sure we will cut in Oran (Algeria)," Qatar's oil minister Abdullah al-Attiya said on Wednesday.
Oil's fall since July has mirrored the global economy's slide toward recession.
European central banks are expected to cut interest rates on Thursday to try to restore some vitality to their feeble economies.
Sweden's central bank has cut by a record 175 basis points, prompting speculation of dramatic cuts elsewhere.
(Reporting by Jane Merriman in London and Maryelle Demongeot in Singapore; editing by Sue Thomas)
