IEA lifts need for OPEC oil in 2006

LONDON – OPEC will need to pump more oil than previously expected to meet rising world demand and cover a shortfall from other producers such as Russia, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

The agency, an adviser to 26 industrialized countries, also said it expected no early resolution to concerns over Iranian supply and lost output in Nigeria that have helped push crude prices toward record highs this week.

U.S. crude oil has risen to almost $70 a barrel as violence in Nigeria cuts supply and demand grows.

Most members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are already pumping crude close to full capacity.

Higher than expected use in the Middle East and Asia Pacific prompted the IEA to raise its estimate for world demand this year to 85.1 million barrels a day in 2006, up 300,000 bpd from a previous estimate.

Reuters