Global demand for oil is continuing to slide as the economy contracts, the Opec producers’ cartel said yesterday. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps about a third of the world’s crude oil, said that it expected consumption to fall by 1.57 million barrels a day this year to an average of 84.03 million barrels.

Its previous forecast had been for demand to shrink by 1.37 million barrels. Virtually all the decline – about 95 per cent – is expected to come from reduced demand in the 30 developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes Britain, the United States, Japan, Germany and France.

However, the global economic slowdown has also acted as a brake on demand in developing countries, such as China and India.

The price of oil has plummeted over the past year but has been edging higher again in recent weeks. Last July the price hit a record high of $147 a barrel, but by December had fallen to less than $35 amid an intensifying global recession.

On Tuesday the price touched a six-month high above $60 a barrel amid rising global stock markets and other signs that the world economy was beginning to recover.

However, despite Opec’s forecast of lower demand this year, the cartel also said that it had increased its own level of production to 25.8 million barrels last month, up from 25.6 million in March. The increase suggests that higher prices have encouraged some Opec members to act independently to lift their output to boost revenues.

At its meeting in March, Opec officially decided to hold its production steady. The cartel is scheduled to meet in Vienna on May 28 to discuss the state of the market.

Separately, Tullow, the Africa-focused oil explorer, announced plans this week to increase spending by 25 per cent on its projects in Uganda and Ghana. Tullow is planning to lift its spending in both countries from £600 million to £750 million. Tullow said that its Jubilee development in Ghana was on track for first oil in the second half of next year.

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