By Surabhi Sahu Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures slipped Friday amid a slew of bearish data, the most significant being lower-than-expected China growth numbers. China's first-quarter GDP grew 8.1% compared with a year earlier, below the already-low 8.3% median forecast of economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Slowing growth in China could dent demand for oil, traders said. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $103.17 a barrel at 0606 GMT, down $0.47 in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.64 to $121.07 a barrel. Traders were also monitoring Friday's expiry of the May Brent contract, as a backwardation of about 80 cents between May and June futures that existed in late March has now narrowed to around 15 cents. "We reiterate that some of this weakness likely relates to the rolling of speculative longs forward. But we also feel that an easing in global oil balances is developing amid recent sizable increases in OPEC production," Jim Ritterbusch at Ritterbusch & Associates said in a note. The International Energy Agency said Thursday that global oil inventories rose by as much as 1.2 million barrels a day in the first quarter of 2012, as OPEC production outpaced sluggish demand. U.S. jobless data Thursday, which showed the largest weekly rise in claims in nearly a year, also weighed on oil prices. However, traders mostly ignored comments from Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, who said Friday that the kingdom was "determined" to see oil prices fall. The comments "are already priced in," a Tokyo-based trader said. He tips support for Brent at $120 a barrel, ahead of key talks between Iran and global powers scheduled for this weekend. "It seems likely that some dislocation to Iranian supplies will be seen through to the end of the year--with or without a political deal," J.P. Morgan said in a note late Thursday. Any relaxation of sanctions will likely be protracted, it added. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 93 points to $3.3474 a gallon, while May heating oil traded at $3.1572, 91 points lower. ICE gasoil for May changed hands at $1006.00 a metric ton, up $1.75 from Thursday's settlement. -By Surabhi Sahu, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 6415 4086; surabhi.sahu@dowjones.com

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