UPDATE 2-BP's US industrial customers see falling oil demand

(Adds quotes from BP CEO)

LA JOLLA, Calif., May 13 (Reuters) - Oil major BP's (BP.L) industrial customers in the United States are still seeing falling oil demand, BP CEO Tony Hayward said on Wednesday.

"Most of our industrial customers are still seeing declining demand. It's not at the pace it was in the first quarter," Hayward said.

Demand will decline until the fourth quarter of 2009 and the return to relative normalcy will be gradual, he added.

Hayward said that his company's and global oil demand is obviously linked to the current global financial crisis, which includes a credit crunch.

"I'm optimistic that by the end of this year or the early part of next year the financial system will have returned to a relatively normal way of operating," he said. "That is to say, small and medium-sized companies will be able to find the credit they need."

Demand destruction will be slowed by economic stimulus plans in both the United States and China, he said.

Hayward said China's stimulus programs to boost consumer demand will be quicker because the government and Chinese companies can synchronize their actions easier than can U.S. companies and its government.

"At the end of the day, there are only two countries that matter in dragging us out of this (global recession) and that is this (the United States) country and China," Hayward said.

Hayward made his comments in a speech to the Latin American Energy Conference held by the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla, north of San Diego.

The party's over for highflying financial risk-takers, he said.

"When you've had such a big party like we've had for the last 20 years," it will take some time to clean up after the revelers, he said. "There are going to be a lot of storms in this as we come out of this recession." (Reporting by Robert Campbell and Bernie Woodall; Editing by Christian Wiessner)