Crude oil traded near its highest in 27 months in New York as the International Energy Agency raised its 2011 demand forecast, citing growing momentum in the economic recovery. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said four North Sea Brent oil platforms have been shut since Jan. 15. The IEA raised its forecast for next year’s worldwide oil demand in its monthly Oil Market Report, the fourth straight increase. Still, there is “more than enough oil in the market,” according to OPEC’s secretary-general. “Demand growth is slowing but still positive,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst with VTB Capital in London. “Perhaps getting above $90 so soon the market has got carried away a little, but colder-than-normal weather conditions have been supportive.” Brent crude for March settlement traded at $97.30 a barrel, down 13 cents, at 1:35 p.m. on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The contract earlier rose as high as $98.37 a barrel. Crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was at $91.23 a barrel, down 31 cents. Nymex floor trading was closed yesterday for a holiday. Electronic trades will be compiled with today’s floor transactions for settlement purposes. Worldwide oil consumption will rise by 1.4 million barrels a day to 89.1 million a day in 2011, the IEA said in today’s report. The Paris-based adviser has raised its demand outlook for four straight months. ‘Technical Matters’ Rising oil prices are driven by “technical matters” such as a weaker dollar and output disruptions, the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries said. “Any assumption that there is tightness in the market, however, is incorrect,” Secretary-General Abdallah el-Badri said in a statement on the group’s website. “Commercial stocks remain well above the five-year average and forward covers stands at around 60 days.” Shell said four Brent platforms in the North Sea have been shut since Jan. 15 and it couldn’t say when they will resume output. The company declined to comment on whether it would have to declare force majeure on shipments of Brent crude. Prices in New York rose 4 percent last week, the most in six weeks, after the Trans Alaska Pipeline System’s closure on Jan. 8 forced BP Plc, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. to cut output. Futures reached a 27-month high of $92.58 on Jan. 3. Oil was being pumped through the Alaska pipeline at more than 500,000 barrels a day at 4 p.m. local time yesterday, Alyeska said in a statement. That’s almost 80 percent of the average rate in December. Stockpiles in Alaska, the biggest U.S. state, have dropped 50 percent since the disruption, reaching 1.47 million barrels on Jan. 13, according to the most recent data from the Alaska Department of Revenue. To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net

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