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OPEC says that demand for oil will go up quicker than expected in 2005, with the economy in China not showing many signs of declining.

An OPEC report says that oil consumption in China will increase by 500,000 barrels a day, to 7 million a day, due to higher-than-expected economic growth. In the fourth-quarter, China's demand was 290,000 barrels a day more than estimated.

"The significant increase in China's fourth-quarter 2004 demand, although preliminary and still subject to possible revisions, leads us to believe that problems and bottlenecks still remain," said OPEC's report.

According to a Bloomberg article,

"The 11-member group has reduced crude production every month since October and as recently as three weeks ago predicted prices would drop after winter ends in the Northern Hemisphere. The Algerian OPEC delegate, Chakib Khelil, yesterday said members may have to reconsider plans to cut production in the second quarter, because of better-than-expected demand and supply cuts elsewhere in the world.

Crude oil was up 31 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $47.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 12:38 p.m. in London, maintaining gains made before the report was released. Oil is up 56 percent in the past year."

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