VIENNA, 18 March 2006 — World oil prices dipped yesterday with US crude stocks high and OPEC issued a slight downward revision to its 2006 forecast for global oil demand.
OPEC predicted a rise of 1.8 percent to 84.5 million barrels per day (bpd) rather than the 84.64 million bpd predicted in February.
“World oil demand is forecast to grow by 1.5 million bpd, or 1.8 percent, to average 85.5 million bpd, higher than last year’s one million bpd but only half the exceptional growth seen in 2004,” the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a monthly report for March.
OPEC attributed the 0.09 percent decline in its forecast to an expected contraction in US demand as well as pessimistic growth forecasts in Asian countries outside the OECD grouping of industrialized states. But it said that “developing countries remained the engine of growth, accounting for more than three-fifths of total global demand growth, despite only accounting for less than one quarter of the world’s demand last year.”
OPEC said Chinese net imports of crude oil surged by 0.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or 28 percent, in February to more than three million bpd.
Imports by members of the Paris-based OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, were stable in February at 24.3 million barrels per day, OPEC said.
US imports grew by 0.4 million bpd to 10 million while those in Japan rose 0.2 million bpd to 4.0 million barrels a day. China is not a member of the OECD.
The OPEC group produced an average of 29.7 million barrels per day in February, an increase of 0.16 million barrels per day from the figure for January, the report said.
At its ministerial meeting in Vienna last week OPEC maintained its current production quota at 28 million barrels a day
World oil prices dipped yesterday on profit-taking, after a volatile week of trading which saw crude futures fall owing to high US crude stocks, and rise on tensions in major energy producers.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, lost five cents to $63.53 per barrel in electronic deals in London before the market’s official opening.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery slid 13 cents to $64.08 per barrel in electronic trade. The April contract had expired Thursday at $62.91 per barrel.
