Crude prices to ease, says EIA

Petroleum News Staff

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate will average $30 a barrel through April, then slide to about $27 by the end of 2003, assuming current disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria are solved, the Energy Information Administration said. It projects that world demand will grow by 1.1 million barrels per day this year, with 40 percent coming from the U.S., while demand will rise another 1.4 million barrels per day in 2004 as the economy recovers. U.S. gas demand is forecast to grow by 2.7 percent this year to 22.5 trillion cubic feet and add another 550 billion cubic feet in 2004.