Today's Trends: 2010 Oil Demand Forecasts Rising

On the heels of positive oil market reports out recently from the IEA, EIA and OPEC, it is worth noting OPEC's growth forecast (shown in the graph above) for global oil demand in 2010.

In its March report, the cartel raised its 2010 global oil demand forecast by about 0.1 mb/d from its February Forecast. 2010 world oil demand is forecast to grow by 0.9 mb/d, or about 1%, to average 85.2 mb/d for the year. Interestingly, by Q4 2010, quarterly oil demand is forecast to start approaching levels similar to those last seen in early-2008 (i.e. pre-recession).

The IEA's report is a bit more bullish, calling for world crude oil demand to grow by about 1.8% this year to 86.6 mb/d, with emerging markets accounting for the lion's share of the expected growth. Similar to OPEC, the IEA also raised its demand forecast from its previous report.