NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Investment bank Lehman Brothers LEH.N said Wednesday it slashed its forecast for 2008 world oil demand growth due to a faster-than-expected slowdown in energy consumption in the United States and other OECD countries.

"We now forecast annual oil demand for 2008 at 86.3 million barrels per day, a growth of 790,000 bpd from 2007. The growth has been revised down from projections of 1.5 million bpd in December," Lehman said in a research note. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by John Picinich)