Kuwaiti crude continues rise, settles at $102.91 per barrel

The price of Kuwaiti crude oil went up to 102.91 US dollars per barrel (pb) in transactions on Friday, compared with $101.47 on Thursday, reported Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Saturday.

Price of the Kuwaiti crude oil rose for the second consecutive day, following a bearish phase that had lasted for weeks, during which it shed 15 percent, compared to the level in the first quarter of the current year due to fears of economic recession in the euro zone and speculations over the Iranian nuclear file.

Meanwhile, global oil demand is expected to rise one percent this year, despite high prices and pessimism over the world economy, analysts with the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said in a new report.

The bank said it expects oil demand to be resilient and said growth would be driven by a projected 2.9 percent increase in consumption this year by non-members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD demand in 2012 is expected to decline by 0.9 percent, the analysts said.

In addition, the report said that based on recent trends, non-OECD demand could exceed that of OECD nations as early as 2013. Middle East supply, the report said, would be expected to provide 20 percent of the non-OECD crude supply.

Global oil supply should increase by about two million barrels per day (bpd) or more in 2012, about double the increase seen last year, in part because of the fact that Libyan output (up a projected 800,000 bpd year-on-year) had returned to the market sooner than had been expected.

The report stated that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries' and Iraqi output (up a projected 600,000 bpd year-on-year) also remain high, with an expected further boost from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) NGL production, which is expected to rise by 500,000 bpd from 2011.

The report predicted that natural declines in output from non-OPEC countries, production losses for other reasons, including attacks on facilities, and talk of an International Energy Agency (IEA) oil release, could combine to "generate the first significant increase in global stocks" in six years.

In more news, in April, Kuwaiti crude oil exports to China rose 79 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 1.3 tons in April, equivalent to 308,000 bpd, while in March, exports to Japan rose to their highest level in three years - 1.67 million barrels - as the country bought more fossil fuels to meet electricity demand after the closure of its nuclear reactors following the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Exports to South Korea also increased by 41 percent in March.