Crude Oil Rises to $54.43 on Global Demand Forecast

day after falling more than a dollar a barrel, crude oil prices rose 89 cents Friday to close at $54.43 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

The rise followed an International Energy Agency estimate that raised the projection for global oil demand for a third straight month, Bloomberg said.

The IEA, which advises on energy policy to 26 industrialized nations, forecast that oil consumption will climb by 1.81 million barrels, or 2.2%, to 84.3 million barrels a day this year, Bloomberg said.

Demand in the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, will grow 120,000 barrels a day more than forecast last month.

China, the No. 2 user, will increase its use by 100,000 barrels a day more than IEA forecast a month ago, Bloomberg said.

The agency has raised its global demand forecasts in all but three months since November 2003.

Prices had fallen earlier because of higher U.S. gasoline and crude-oil supplies, Bloomberg said.