Global oil demand growth this year is expected to be slightly lower than previously forecast as weaker European consumption has overshadowed higher Asian, namely Chinese, demand, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday. In its latest forecast, the EIA said world petroleum consumption this year will rise by nearly 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), 10,000 bpd lower than its estimate last month, from 2009's total to 85.5 million bpd this year. The 1.5 million bpd growth is the result of an expected recovery in the global economy, with world gross domestic product seen rising by 3% this year, the EIA said. However, "EIA has revised its assessment for Asia upwards and Europe downwards for 2010 in response to preliminary first-quarter data for those regions," the agency said. European oil demand was lowered by 170,000 bpd, while that for China, the fastest growing oil consumer, rose 90,000 bpd. Fuel costs have risen in Europe as the euro has lost ground against the dollar due to concerns over Greece's debt, while greenback-denominated oil has risen in the first quarter. The EIA's global oil demand estimate for 2010 was between last month's demand forecast from the International Energy Agency's of 86.57 million bpd and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) forecast of 85.24 million bpd. The IEA's new monthly oil demand forecast will be released on April 13, followed by OPEC's on April 14. On the global supply front, the EIA raised its forecast for non-OPEC crude oil production growth this year by 50,000 bpd from the agency's prior estimate.

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