(Updates prices)

By Annika Breidthardt

SINGAPORE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Oil held near a record high above $78 a barrel on Wednesday, after OPEC's token output increase failed to ease worries about falling inventories and supply disruptions.

U.S. light crude for October delivery <CLc1> was down 14 cents at $78.09 a barrel by 0721 GMT, after a record close on Tuesday of $78.23, and within a whisker of Aug. 1's record intraday high of $78.77.

London Brent crude <LCOc1> was down 18 cents at $76.20.

Saudi Arabia persuaded OPEC to raise crude output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Nov. 1 at a meeting on Tuesday, in a gesture to consumer nations worried by the economic impact of pricey oil and rapidly diminishing fuel stocks. [ID:nL11627825]

The move by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies more than a third of the world's oil, follows months of calls for more supply from industrialised consumers worried about a supply crunch during winter.

"With this move, the supplier is signalling 'we think there may be a supply shortage', not just the consumers," said Tobin Gorey, a commodities strategist at Australia's Commonwealth Bank.

"But with the U.S. dollar so low, $78 now is not what $78 was a month ago," he added.

The increase comes on top of current OPEC supplies and takes the output target for the 10 members bound by the agreement -- Iraq and new member Angola stand outside -- to 27.2 million bpd.

OPEC had to balance consumers' concerns about thinning supplies ahead of winter with widespread fears of an economic slowdown that some worry could dampen oil demand.

"There is a shift in OPEC policy. OPEC is reacting to the stocks. Perhaps we are seeing a return to a market where fundamentals is the main factor," Peter Bosworth, chief executive officer of European trading company Arcadia Petroleum, told a conference in Singapore.

Global oil demand in the fourth quarter should be 2 million bpd higher than last year unless fears of an economic slowdown materialise, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly energy forecast. [ID:nN11440019]

And U.S. crude oil and gasoline stocks likely fell again last week, as refineries stepped up production with an emphasis on distillates, a Reuters survey of industry analysts showed.

The average forecast from 12 analysts was for crude stocks to fall 2.4 million barrels and gasoline, already at its lowest since September 2005, to slip by 700,000 barrels. [EIA/S]

Adding to supply concerns, a leftist rebel group in Mexico claimed responsibility on Tuesday for bomb attacks on oil and gas pipelines in the fifth-largest oil exporter earlier this week.

The group threatened more assaults against the state-owned oil company, raising fears Mexico could slide into a Nigeria-style struggle to keep oil and gas flowing.

So far, energy shipments from Mexico have not suffered from the attacks. Still, analysts say rising instability in Mexico, a normally reliable supplier, could add as much as $10 a barrel to world oil prices. (Additional reporting by Maryelle Demongeot)

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