ANKARA: Brent crude oil price rose above the $60 per barrel mark after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, forecast a rise in global oil demand for 2015.
The price of global benchmark reached $60.28 per barrel Monday at 1845 GMT, recording a more than 2.5 percent increase in a single day from $58.68 per barrel, according to official figures.
The American benchmark price, West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, also gained almost 2 percent to practically reach the $53 per barrel mark.
Oil prices have fallen around 60 percent in the last seven months, reaching their lowest level in almost six years, and recording the fastest slump since 2008, due to oversupply and low global oil demand.
The rise came after OPEC released its monthly oil market report Monday, forecasting an increase in demand for the cartel’s oil by 100,000 barrels per day, to reach 29.2 million in 2015.
Moreover, the organization expects world oil demand to rise by 1.17 million barrels per day to reach 92.32 million barrels in 2015, from 91.15 million barrels per day in 2014.
Brent crude oil price recovered more than 30 percent in the last four weeks, after it fell below the $46 per barrel mark on Jan. 13 — the lowest point since March 2009.
