The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday left its forecast for 2012 global oil demand unchanged at 0.9mn barrels per day (bpd).
At the same time, OPEC said it expects worldwide growth in oil demand to moderate to 0.8mn bpd next year due to a continuing global economic slowdown.
In its monthly report, OPEC said it expects non-OPEC oil supply to rise by 0.67mn bpd this year and 0.92mn barrels in 2013.
Reports also said that total daily OPEC crude-oil production averaged 31.36mn barrels in June, a decline of 106,000 barrels from May. Excluding Iraq, production averaged 28.38mn bpd, down 170,000 from May.
Meanwhile, oil prices rebounded from a one-week low in New York amid shrinking stockpiles in the US, the world’s biggest crude consumer. The NYMEX oil futures rose as much as 1.3% after slipping 2.4% yesterday.
US inventories fell 695,000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said after yesterday’s settlement.
A Department of Energy report today will probably show supplies slid 1.38mn barrels, according to median estimate of analysts.
Oil for August delivery gained as much as US$1.09 to US$85.00 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell US$2.08 yesterday to US$83.91, the lowest close since July 2. NYMEX prices are down 14% this year.
Brent crude for August settlement advanced as high as 98 cents, or 1%, to US$98.95 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The European benchmark’s premium to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at US$14.14, from US$14.06 yesterday.
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