LONDON — High prices and hurricanes have slowed global oil demand growth this year but the world is still expected to guzzle a million and a half barrels per day more next year, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
Demand growth in 2005 comes at a hefty 1.31 million bpd, atop about a 2.9 million bpd increase in 2004, the fastest rate in a generation.
The hurricanes pushed up prices to record levels.
But some analysts doubt that high prices have had any significant effect on demand.
Despite the storms, U.S. GDP grew faster than expected in the third quarter, indicating that the world's largest economy appears to have shrugged off higher energy costs, at least for now.
Reuters
