Opec has cut its estimate for the expected increase in global oil demand this year for the fifth time in a row, with the increase now expected to be 1,7% from the 2004 figure, its monthly report showed on Thursday.
Global demand is now forecast to be an average 83,5-million barrels per day.
In August, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries had said that global oil consumption would increase by 1,9% in 2005, and would average 83,6 million barrels per day (bpd).
The downward revision is because of “low growth demand rates for the first half of the year, especially from USA and China”.
For 2006, Opec also cut its forecast, saying it now expected demand to increase by 1,8%.
Opec said Hurricane Katrina would have an effect on demand as its impact “will be felt through the reduction in the economic activity of the United States and the rise in the global price of petroleum products”.
The powerful 11-nation oil cartel, which produces over a third of the world’s crude oil, said in its report that “prior to Hurricane Katrina, high gasoline prices appeared to have started to impact some Asian economies”.
Opec said the hurricane which hit the southeast United States this month “fully or partially affected the operations of about three million bpd of refining capacity in the United States”.
“Currently some two million bpd of this capacity have returned to normal operations, while the remaining 0,9-million bpd is expected to be offline for weeks, if not months,” the report said.
It said this situation “should support crude and product prices over the next few months”. – AFP