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IEA foresees an easing of growth in oil demand in 2005
The Associated Press
Growth in world oil demand will slow to 2.2 percent in 2005, as China and other oil-hungry developing countries bump up against their limits for refining and transporting crude, the International Energy Agency said July 13.
Demand next year will average 83.2 million barrels a day, and crude supplies from Russia, Angola and Brazil will meet the bulk of the increased needs, the agency said in its monthly oil market report.
The Paris-based IEA is the energy watchdog for wealthy oil-importing countries. It analyzes the supply and demand for crude, but avoids predicting prices. Oil demand will surge 3.2% in 2004, predicts IEA For 2004, the agency predicted that oil demand will surge by 3.2 percent to an average of 81.4 million barrels a day, due partly to the transfer of manufacturing activity to less energy-efficient developing nations and to rising consumption there.
The IEA noted that global supplies rose in June by 1 percent, or 790,000 barrels a day, with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries accounting for 635,000 barrels of the increase.
Even so, prices for U.S. light crude shot to more than $40 a barrel early in June on concerns about supply disruptions in Iraq and fears of a possible terror attack in Saudi Arabia, the IEA reported.
Prices slipped later in June, but uncertainty about shipments from Iraq and Nigeria and legal difficulties for Russia’s largest oil company Yukos contributed to fresh fears about supply and have helped push prices higher again early this month, the agency said.
Although industrialized countries’ inventories of crude rose to more comfortable levels in May, inventories of gasoline and other refined products remained tight, it said.
Contracts of U.S. light crude for August delivery were trading July 13 at $39.14 a barrel, down 36 cents, in electronic dealings in advance of the opening on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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