Crude up on weather, OPEC demand forecast

Crude oil prices were higher again Tuesday, gaining on a US dollar that weakened further and after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted that demand for oil will be up next year, but not by much and that recovery will be slow.

OPEC said that recovering demand will raise demand for crude oil globally by 700,000 barrels per day in 2010 to 84.93 million barrels per day, 200,000 barrels per day higher than its previous forecast.

Prices also rose on predictions that cold weather forecast for the US Northeast and Midwest will raise heating oil demand to over 40 percent above average in coming days.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added 88 cents to $74.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude added 51 cents to $71.87 per barrel at last report from the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline and December heating oil each added 3 cents in afternoon trade, to $1.83 per gallon and $1.95 per gallon respectively, while November natural gas futures dropped 29 cents to $4.59 per million British thermal units.