SM:Oil and natural gas daily review (June 17, 2011)
By Nirmal Bang
MARKET ROUNDUP
Crude oil rebounded on Thursday, buoyed by a forecast of higher demand from the International Energy Administration and better readings of the U.S. labor and housing markets.
IN FOCUS
- The West's energy watchdog the IEA upped the pressure on producer club OPEC to increase output by forecasting a steep rise in oil demand later this year and predicting the strain on supply would last over the medium term.
- Oil prices will stay above $100 a barrel in the next year as supply worries outweigh concerns about flagging global economic growth, a Reuter's survey of oil industry officials, executives and traders showed.
- The first shipment of Saudi crude oil donated to Yemen to help relieve widespread fuel shortages arrived at the port of Aden on Thursday, trade and shipping sources said.
- The OPEC producer group has recognized an extra 500,000 barrels per day production from Venezuela's heavy-crude Orinoco Belt region; local media quoted Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez as saying on Thursday.
- Niger will produce its first barrel of oil in the first quarter of 2012 and will build a pipeline linking the Chad-Cameroon pipeline to enable it to export its surplus roduction, Niger's prime minister said on Thursday.