Surprisingly large increases in demand for oil...

Surprisingly large increases in demand for oil in the United States and Japan this year prompted a Salomon Bros. analyst to sharply increase his forecast of the demand for OPEC oil over the next five years. Paul D. Mlotok said world oil demand this year will increase 2% to 49.5 million barrels a day, an increase of 1 million barrels a day over 1987. Demand will reach 52.6 million barrels per day by 1992, a return to the 1979 peak, he said. The driving force behind the up trend is the 35% decline in the real price of oil in the past three years, Mlotok said. This will boost prices to $25 a barrel by 1992 from the current $18, he said.