The 2004 improvement in world economy has led to a record increase of 2.6 million barrels in daily demand for oil compared with 1.9 million in 2003, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported Saturday.

Citing a recent petroleum study prepared by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), KUNA said the overall world demand for oil had reached 82.3 million barrels per day in 2004.

The high demand for oil in the first half of 2004 was due to the high economic performance, it said.

The report showed that international economy had continued to grow at high rates in the past two years, reaching 5 percent in 2004 compared with 3.9 percent in 2003.

In the meantime, the industrialized countries' demand for oil had increased in 2004 by 1.4 percent compared with 2003 to reach 49.4 million barrels per day.

The oil used by industrialized countries constitutes 60 percent of worldwide use and the United States alone was responsible for 20.4 million barrels per day in 2004, the report said.

Source: Xinhua