Opec raises oil demand forecast

Opec on Tuesday revised upward its growth forecast for global oil demand in 2015 and maintained projected record levels of world consumption next year, despite turbulent market conditions spurred by financial instability in Greece and China.

In its August report, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it was expecting world oil demand to grow by 1.38 million barrels per day -- some 90,000 more than announced in its July estimates.

The cartel also stuck to last month's prognosis that demand growth in 2016 would reach 1.34 million barrels per day thanks to global GDP expansion set to reach 3.5 percent.

"Given the better-than-expected growth in global oil demand so far this year, together with some signs of a pickup in the economies of the major consuming countries, crude oil demand in the coming months should continue to improve and, thus, gradually reduce the imbalance in oil supply-demand fundamentals," Opec noted in its report.