Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.11 / Trend A.Yusifzade /
Oil prices rose up to $89 per barrel in Asia on Friday as traders looked to this weekend's OPEC meeting for any changes to the cartel's crude production policy, Tehran Times reported.
Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 40 cents to $88.77 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 9 cents to fix $88.37 on Thursday.
Analysts said that officials of the 12-nation OPEC will likely to leave the group's production quotas unchanged at Saturday's meeting in Ecuador.
Meanwhile, OPEC raised its forecast for oil demand in 2010 because of global economic recovery and cold weather in Europe on Friday. "World oil demand growth in 2010 is now forecasted at 1.5 million barrels per day, representing an upward revision of about 0.2 mbd," the OPEC monthly report said. "OECD oil demand is turning out to be stronger than expected, supported by stimulus driven by economic activities, putting the 2010 daily demand at an average of 85.93 mbd, the message said.
Advertisement: Story continues below "Cold winter in Europe has also strengthened heating oil consumption in December," the report said.
The cartel held its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2011 steady at 1.2 mbd, but with the increase in the 2010 figure. Now it expects demand to hit 87.1 mbd next year. OPEC ministers met in the Ecuadoran capital Quito on Saturday with most of its 12 member-countries. They expected to support keeping production quotas as they are, despite a recent rise in the price on oil to about $90 per barrel and forecasts for an increase in demand.
The cartel, which pumps more than 35 percent of the world's oil, has maintained its official production target unchanged at 24.8 million barrels a day since January 1, 2009, when it agreed to hefty reduction aimed at boosting oil prices that had decreased up to $30 a barrel because of the financial crisis.
OPEC was founded in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Currently, Algeria, Indonesia, Libya, UAE, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar are OPEC members. Ecuador has once again become an OPEC member since 2007. OPEC member countries account for about 35 percent of world oil exports.