VIENNA, March 15: World oil demand will grow by 1.5 per cent in 2007 from the level last year, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its monthly report published on Thursday.

The Monthly Oil Market Report was released ahead of Opec’s decision to maintain the cartel’s output target at 25.8 million oil barrels per day.

Ahead of the meeting, Opec ministers had said they were happy with the supply-demand balance and prices of traded crude, which stand close to $60 a barrel in London and New York.

The Opec Reference Basket’s monthly average price meanwhile rallied by more than 7.0 percent in February to average $54.45 a barrel, after dropping nearly 13 per cent in January.

“While a cold snap in the USA revived market bullishness, concern in the geopolitics kept volatility intact,” the monthly update said.

The 12-member cartel produces more than a third of world oil, led by leading producer Saudi Arabia.

Non-Opec supply in 2007 was expected to average 50.6 million barrels per day, a rise of 1.2 mb/d over the previous year, the organization said in its report.

“World oil demand growth for 2007 is forecast to grow by 1.3 mb/d (million barrels per day) or 1.5 per cent, an upward revision of 0.1 mb/d” compared with Opec’s forecast in February.

Opec’s growth estimate in percentage terms is unchanged for the second month in a row.

The report said there was a pick-up in US demand for heating fuel in February from January.

“First-quarter oil demand in North America was revised up by 0.1 mb/d to average 25.45 mb/d, representing growth of 0.3 mb/d,” it said.

Opec meanwhile estimated that total world oil demand growth for 2006 is estimated at 800,000 barrels per day, or 1.0 per cent, broadly unchanged from its last report.

The cartel acknowledged that “downside risks to the world economic outlook are coming to the fore.”

Members of the cartel had said this week that oil demand could be hit should there be a long-term downturn in the stock markets that leads to slower US economic growth.—AFP