3/10/2010-The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced Wednesday that it boosted its forecast for global oil demand in 2010.
In its monthly oil report, OPEC said it now sees global demand to grow by 900,000 barrels a day in 2010, which represents an upward revision of 100,000 barrels a day from its previous estimates.
OPEC offered this statement regarding the commodity's correlation with government stimulus, "These stimulus plans have already done a great job of jump-starting many sectors of the economy, including energy," the cartel said. "However, questions remain as to how long governments will be able to afford supporting their economies. Should this support diminish, then world oil demand would of course be impacted."
The front month contract for light sweet crude is trading $0.30 higher on the NYMEX following the news, to $81.79 per barrel.
Shares of Dow components Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are trading 0.6% lower to $73.84 and shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) are unchanged despite the news.
Keywords: Exxon ExxonMobil Chevron OPEC crude demand raise forecast outlook finance
