OPEC sees 2010 oil demand up almost 1%

A rebounding global economy spurred on mainly by China and other developing nations is expected to boost world oil demand by slightly under 1% next year, OPEC said today while cautioning that the pace of recovery remains far from certain. In its October Monthly Oil Market Report, the 12-nation group that supplies over 35% of the world’s crude said demand was expected to grow by a daily 700,000 barrels to average 84.9 million barrels per day. That represents a 200,000-barrel per day upward revision from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ September report. “Given the recent improvement in the economic performance of OECD and China, oil demand is expected to be better than earlier forecast[ed],” OPEC said, referring to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a rich nations club. It added, however, that the economic recovery in 2010 will be “slow and weak.” The report offers the latest hint of a silver lining in a market that spent much of the second half of last year on a steep downhill from crude’s record peak of over the $147 per barrel reached in July 2008.