Reply #32: Chinese and US demand to keep oil prices high - IEA [View All]

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Independent
By Saeed Shah
12 March 2005


Cold weather across the northern hemisphere and robust economic growth in the US and China has led to a "surge" in demand for oil, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.

The intergovernmental body dismissed the idea that speculators were behind the record highs continuing in the price of crude oil, pointing to tight supply and booming demand as the reason. It said a broad range of commodities was at record or near-record highs, indicating "global economic growth as the primary driver behind high oil prices".

The IEA warned that the situation may require co-ordinated action by governments. In its monthly Oil Market Report, the organisation said: "If supply continues to struggle to keep up, more policy attention may come to be directed at oil demand intensity in our economies and alternatives."

The IEA raised its global demand forecast for 2005 by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 84.3 million. Annual growth now averages 1.8 million bpd, up 290,000 bpd. Not only has there been cold weather this winter in Europe and North America but north-east Asia has also been cold, particularly Japan.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=619221