Crude prices gain on IEA demand forecast

Crude oil prices were higher again Thursday after the International Energy Agency issued a prediction that oil demand will fall less than expected this year, following on a similar forecast from the US Energy Information Administration yesterday.

The Paris-based IEA said that while it still expects demand to decline in absolute terms this year, it now believes that global demand will fall by 2.9 percent during the year rather than by the 3 percent decline it predicted last month.

This small bit of optimism sent July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude $1.61 higher to $72.94 per barrel at 1:45 p.m. local time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, about 45 minutes ahead of the close of the day’s floor trade session.

Meanwhile, Brent crude was up 80 cents to $71.60 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Also helping prices higher were separate reports that fewer first-time unemployment claims were filed last week in the United States and that retail sales in the US were higher last month.

The retail price of gasoline in the US was up half a cent overnight to $2.632 per gallon on average nationally.