São Paulo- According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil production in 2010 should total 85.7 million barrels per day. The IEA has increased its expected oil consumption for 2010 by 500,000 barrels per day.
The agency has also revised its oil consumption forecast for China in 2009 to 8.17 million barrels per day. In the United States, the demand in the fourth quarter of 2009 is expected to decrease by 330,000 barrels per day when compared with 2008, but should rise by 320,000 barrels per day in 2010.
In the meantime, British newspaper The Independent has informed that China and a group of Arab countries are planning to replace the dollar in business transactions involving oil. The dollar may be replaced by gold and a basket of currencies that should include the yen, the yuan, the euro and also a single currency that is being planned by the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an economic bloc comprised of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
According to the newspaper, Brazil and India have also shown interest in replacing the dollar for other options in transactions involving oil, but the country that showed the most enthusiasm was China, due to its large volume of trade with the Middle Eastern countries.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
