FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures traded slightly higher on Friday, as the International Energy Agency raised its forecast for global oil demand next year.
Crude oil for January delivery gained 34 cents to $70.88 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Earlier, the contract rose to an intraday high of $71.24 a barrel.
Oil futures finished marginally lower on Thursday.
The International Energy Agency has revised up by 130,000 barrels a day its forecast for 2010 global oil demand, which is now expected to average 86.3 million barrels a day. That represents an increase of 1.7%, or 1.5 million barrels a day, compared to 2009.
"Growth continues to be driven by non-OECD countries, notably in Asia and the Middle East," the IEA said in its monthly oil report released Friday. "Nonetheless, OECD prospects have improved to some extent, particularly in the Pacific."
The IEA also left its forecast for this year's oil demand virtually unchanged at 84.9 million barrels a day, a decline of 1.6% year-on-year.
"China remains the most important supporting factor for the global energy market in particular, whilst industrialized countries are lagging behind," wrote analysts at Commerzbank AG in a note to clients.
"This is underpinned by today's data from the International Energy Agency," they said. "Although the IEA expects a rise in global oil demand next year of 1.5 million barrels a day, this will come solely from the emerging countries."
The IEA updated its medium-term forecast released in June. Oil demand is now expected to be some 1.9 million barrels a day higher over 2009-2014 when compared with the June forecast.
Traders are awaiting a string of economic data. Retail sales for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
Import prices for November also will be released ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street, while at 10 a.m., the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment gauge for December and business inventories for October will be released.
