OPEC again cuts its demand forecast

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, slashed its 2009 demand forecast for a third month as the looming global recession threatens fuel consumption.

The 13-member group reduced its forecast for average oil consumption next year by 530,000 barrels a day, or 0.6 percent, to 86.68 million barrels a day, it said in its monthly oil market report. Falling transport fuel use and a slump in demand from the petrochemical industry are cutting oil consumption.
“The downbeat economic forecast has darkened the outlook for oil demand substantially,” OPEC’s Vienna-based secretariat said. “Some institutions are even forecasting a contraction in oil demand in the coming year.”

Houston Chronicle