LONDON (Dow Jones)--Global crude oil refinery utilization has rebounded after seasonal maintenance and is set to hold at higher levels the International Energy Agency said Friday.
In its widely watched monthly oil report, the energy watchdog for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast global refinery runs would reach their seasonal winter peak at 74.9 million barrels a day in December, versus 73.1 million barrels a day in maintenance-afflicted November.
The agency said runs are seen holding at this higher level through to the end of January.
The agency added: "Lower December throughput estimates for Europe and the U.S are partially offset by increased runs in the Pacific."
Oil refining in Organization for Economic Corporation and Development countries however, has been stymied by prolonged maintenance periods at several European refiners.
The agency estimates OECD fourth-quarter crude runs will average 38.7 million barrels a day, down 0.2 million barrels a day on last month's forecast.
"Slower-than-anticipated restarts following maintenance at several refineries in Europe, notably BP PLC's Nerefco, OMV AG's Burghausen and Total SA's Gonfreville refineries, have reduced November's estimated crude runs by 0.4 million barrels a day."
The agency, however, forecast OECD runs for first quarter 2008 to average 39 million barrels a day, 0.4 million barrels higher than in first quarter 2007, following the return to service of several U.S refineries from long-term outages.
Looking forward, the agency predicts first quarter 2008 crude runs will average 74.3 million barrels a day, assuming normal weather conditions, a year-on-year increase of 1 million barrels a day.