BP Say OPEC Should Lift Supply

The world will need more oil from OPEC later this year as economic recovery lifts demand, the BP group has said. “Oil consumption growth has begun to edge upwards as economic recovery takes hold,” said Peter Davies, BP's chief economist at a press conference. “Before the end of the year, the market will need more OPEC oil.”

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which meets next week, is set to maintain the lowest output quotas since 1991 for at least three more months. It cut production four times in the year to Jan. 1 to keep crude prices around $25 a barrel.

Global oil consumption fell last year for the first time since 1993, curbed by a recession in the US, the aftermath of Sept. 11 and high prices, BP said in its annual review of world energy. Demand in the U.S., which uses a quarter of the world's energy, declined for the first time in at least a decade.

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