Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from a record in New York after Tropical Depression Humberto weakened from a hurricane and passed over Texas without damaging oil rigs and refineries.

No damage to production units was reported at three refineries where power supplies were knocked out by the storm in Port Arthur, Texas, and at least two will be running normally next week, operators said. OPEC, which this week agreed to raise output to calm prices, cut its forecasts for 2008 demand in a report today.

``We could see some movement downwards'' because of the ``mix of the tropical depression and the start of the refinery maintenance season,'' said Thina Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Bank AB in Oslo. The prospect of further storms will keep prices in the mid-$70s, she said.

Crude oil for October delivery fell as much as 64 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $79.45 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $79.64 at 1:25 p.m. in London. Brent crude oil for November settlement was trading at $76.75 a barrel, down 37 cents, on London's ICE Futures exchange.

Yesterday, oil in New York touched $80.20, the highest intraday price since trading began in 1983, and for the first time closed above $80 a barrel at $80.09. Prices are up 26 percent from a year ago.

Plants at Port Arthur operated by Total SA and Valero Energy Corp. will next week restore capacity switched off in preparation for Humberto's arrival. The three refineries affected are among the top 30 in the U.S. and account for nearly 5 percent of the country's processing power.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which this week agreed to raise output, forecast that demand for its crude will fall by 216,000 barrels a day next year and said the rising cost of credit may slow global economic growth.

Humberto Weakens, Ingrid Forms

Humberto weakened to a depression over southwestern Louisiana. It was about 15 miles northwest of Vicksburg, Mississippi at 4 a.m. local time, with winds about half the strength of the 39-mile-per- hour threshold required for storm status.

``Since we've seen very low petrol inventories, near the level we saw after Hurricane Katrina two years ago, the supply buffer will be sensitive'' if any storms in the rest of the hurricane season inflict actual damage, Nordea's Saltvedt said.

The ninth storm of this year's season, Tropical Storm Ingrid, is 1,300 miles east of the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles islands and moving west-northwest with winds of about 40 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. The system will probably weaken on a path toward Puerto Rico, the center said at 5 a.m. Miami time.

The Atlantic hurricane season, from June through November, can threaten oil facilities along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Dwindling Stockpiles

Yesterday's record high was also caused by a U.S. Energy Department report that crude stockpiles saw the year's biggest decline last week. OPEC's decision to pump more oil failed to allay speculation of a shortage of crude next quarter, contributing to the gain.

``Prices could reach the mid $80s this year under these circumstances'' depending on OPEC's policy in coming months, said Heliodoro Quintero, an oil consultant and former governor of the organization. OPEC will review quotas again in December.

The output increase is just ``rhetoric,'' because OPEC may not have 500,000 barrels of spare capacity, especially as Persian Gulf suppliers are preparing for field maintenance, Matt Simmons, chairman of Houston-based Simmons & Co. International, said in an interview today.

OPEC agreed during its Sept. 11 meeting in Vienna to pump an extra 500,000 barrels a day, starting Nov. 1. The same day, the Energy Department said U.S. crude supplies shrank by 7.01 million barrels last week, more than double the decline expected by a Bloomberg News survey of analysts.

``There's going to be a very substantial draw of crude oil in the fourth quarter,'' said Simon Wardell, energy research manager at Global Insight Inc. in London. ``OPEC's going to produce this oil in November. It's not going to reach the eastern seaboard until December or January.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 14, 2007 08:48 EDT