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| Economy |
| OPEC raises 2011 oil demand forecasts |
| 2010-12-11 |
| (KUNA) -- The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Friday it expected oil demand in 2011, to be 1.18 million barrels per day - 10,000 bpd more than expectations it made a month earlier. In its monthly report of December, the cartel said that the rise of stockpiles, the spare capacity to produce oil and non-utilized refining capacity would do much to close the gap of any likely shortage of crude supply next year. OPEC also expected the rise of the demand of its crude in the coming year to 30 million bpd, while raising its expectations of demand of oil from non-OPEC members by 100,000 bpd to a total 52.62 million bpd. OPEC member country oil ministers head to the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, on Saturday to attend their final meeting of the year, where they are expected to maintain their current production output ceiling of 24.88 million bpd, amid an evident increase of crude prices that have exceeded USD 88 per barrel. The ministers are set to discuss production policies in the first quarter of 2011, market fundamentals of supply and demand and whether new changes are needed to the output ceiling. Furthermore, OPEC announced the rise of the price of its 12-crude basket a day earlier, by 46 cents to USD 87.92 pb. The annual average of the basket price last year was USD 76.11 pb, it added. The OPEC basket is made up of Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Theocratic Republicof Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es-Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Soddy Arabia), Murban (UAE), and Merey (Venezuela). |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Well, of course ... now that all US Gulf drilling has been banned. Even if demand didn't increase in the aggregate, the fact that demand will stay the same but no new US production will come online will increase demand for other OPEC oil. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2010-12-11 02:10 |