LOC23:09
20:09 GMT
VIENNA, Dec 10 (KUNA) -- The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) said on Friday it expected oil demand in 2011, to be 1.18 million
barrels per day - 10,000 bpd more than expectations it made a month earlier.
In its monthly report of December, the cartel said that the rise of
stockpiles, the spare capacity to produce oil and non-utilized refining
capacity would do much to close the gap of any likely shortage of crude supply
next year.
OPEC also expected the rise of the demand of its crude in the coming year
to 30 million bpd, while raising its expectations of demand of oil from
non-OPEC members by 100,000 bpd to a total 52.62 million bpd.
OPEC member country oil ministers head to the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, on
Saturday to attend their final meeting of the year, where they are expected to
maintain their current production output ceiling of 24.88 million bpd, amid an
evident increase of crude prices that have exceeded USD 88 per barrel.
The ministers are set to discuss production policies in the first quarter
of 2011, market fundamentals of supply and demand and whether new changes are
needed to the output ceiling.
Furthermore, OPEC announced the rise of the price of its 12-crude basket a
day earlier, by 46 cents to USD 87.92 pb.
The annual average of the basket price last year was USD 76.11 pb, it added.
The OPEC basket is made up of Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola),
Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq),
Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es-Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine
(Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE), and Merey (Venezuela). (end)
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