Global forecasters cut non-OPEC oil supply growth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government’s top energy forecaster on Tuesday raised its projections for 2008 oil prices by nearly 12 percent as oil supplies from key projects in Russia, Norway, Mexico and Brazil failed to relieve tight supplies despite a slowdown in demand growth.

The dimming outlook for world production will keep the market on edge even as high prices hit consumers and cut into the pace of global demand growth.

…The agency said it is still calling for non-OPEC supply to jump 820,000 bpd later this year as big fields in Brazil and Azerbaijan come online. But given recent delays, the EIA hedged its bets on the probability of such supplies materializing as planned.

“Given recent history, EIA believes that the pace and timing of non-OPEC supply growth will continue to be subject to possible delays in key projects and accelerating production declines in some older fields,” the agency said.

Reuters