IEA revises Oct-Dec 2009 crude runs lower

* High crude prices, weak OECD demand hit profit margins

* Q4 '09 crude throughput reduced by 0.3 mln bpd to 72.8 mln

By David Sheppard

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Global oil refiners will process less crude in October-December than previously expected, as high crude prices and weak end-user demand has hit profit margins in the developed world, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.

"We have decreased our fourth quarter 2009 projection by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 72.8 million bpd, following a significant reduction of 800,000 bpd in OECD runs and an upward revision of 500,000 bpd for non-OECD," the Paris-based adviser to 28 industrialised economies said in a monthly report.

"The reduction in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development runs is the result of protracted poor margins, persistent high middle distillate inventories, competition from higher runs in non-OECD and announcements by some majors in the United States, Europe and Japan of further crude run cuts."

The agency said initial data showed crude runs averaged 73.1 million bpd worldwide in the third quarter. Crude runs are normally higher in the fourth quarter due to demand for heating oil during the Northern Hempisphere winter.

The fall in refining runs quarter-on-quarter contrasts with the IEA's view that overall oil demand is now growing for the first time since early 2008, before it was slashed by the spike in prices to almost $150 a barrel and the global slowdown. [ID:nLC090947]