Vienna - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil cartel on Tuesday increased its forecast for oil demand growth in 2013 on expectations of better-than-expected improvement in developed country economies.
Opec said in its November monthly report that demand would average 89.78 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2013, a slight 0.04 mbpd increase from last month's forecast.
Most of the demand increase came from small adjustments in Europe and North America with non-OECD countries seeing demand forecasts in a slight decline.
Opec, pumping about 35% of the world's oil supply, however held its demand growth forecast for 2014 to 1.04 mbpd with total demand expected to reach 90.82 mbpd next year.
In the report, Opec kept its global economic growth forecasts at 2.9% this year and 3.5% in 2014, with a US economy that has "progressed better than expected" even after the government shutdown linked to a story budget debate.