IEA raises oil demand outlook

Global oil demand will be higher than expected next year, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.

The agency, which advises 28 industrialised countries, upped its forecast for 2011 to 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.32 million bpd.

The revision stood in contrast to the latest figures from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which represents the world's major oil producers.

It raised its forecast by just 10,000 bpd to 1.18 million bpd, thus boosting the case for no change in its supply policy.

The IEA suggested otherwise, however. "Against a backdrop of much stronger-than-expected global oil demand growth and oil prices above two-year highs, OPEC may come under pressure to increase supplies to the market in the new year," it said in its latest monthly report.