Oil prices dip on lower demand estimates
13 Oct 2011
Oil prices continued to diptoday, with the price for November deliveries down at $85.09 a barrel, following a cut in forecast for crude oil demand by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Oil for November deliveries today closed at $85.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a decline of 0.3 per cent, and the first fall since October 4.
Oil futures have fallen by 6.4 per cent this year. After the close of trading, November oil dipped below $85 to $84.8 a barrel, but regained slightly.
The Paris-based IEA has trimmed its forecast for crude oil demand for this year and 2012. It lowered its global fuel demand growth forecast for the current year by 50,000 barrels a day to 990,000 bpd and for 2012 by 160,000 bpd to 1.25 million bpd. World demand is expected to increase to 90.5 million bpd next year from 88.4 million bpd in 2011.
The IEA forecast follows a similar lowering of demand by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) a day earlier.
OPEC projects demand growing by 880,000 bpd to 87.81 million bpd, from an earlier growth estimate of more than a million bpd for 2011.
