Crude prices drip slightly on weather predictions

Crude oil prices were a bit lower again on Tuesday, still reacting to predictions of warmer than normal weather over most of the United States for the next couple of weeks. Brent crude January contracts were 7 cents lower to $63.38 per barrel. Meanwhile, January delivery West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 10 cents to $62.34 per barrel.

The Energy Information Administration published new long-term forecasts for average oil prices and supply and demand. The EIA now says that the average price for a barrel of oil will be $57.47 per barrel in 2010, 21.5 percent higher than the $47.29 per barrel it predicted last year. The increase was based on delays it sees in new supplies being put on the market in Africa and Latin America.

The EIA says that it believes that global oil demand will rise by 1.3 percent per year until it reaches 91.05 million barrels per day in 2030. Supply from OPEC is expected to go up 1.2 percent per year to 44.95 million barrels per day in 2030, while non-OPEC supply will go up by 1.8 percent per year until it reaches 43.32 million barrels per day in 2030. Demand for ethanol will double in the US by 2012, according to the EIA, to 11.2 billion gallons per year.