国际英语新闻:2012 oil price to be about 100 USD per barrel: EIA

HOUSTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is expected to be about 100 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2012, five dollars per barrel higher than the average price in 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday.

The EIA, a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy, said in its monthly report that it also expects WTI to continue rising, reaching 106 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The forecasts represent an increase of oil price prices from last year, when WTI averaged 94.86 dollars a barrel, according to the EIA.

WTI, also known as Texas light sweet, is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing, alongside the price of Brent crude from the North Sea.

The forecast said that U.S. real gross domestic product grows by 1.8 percent in 2012 and 2.5 percent in 2013, while world real GDP (weighted by oil consumption) grows by 2.9 percent and 3.8 percent in 2012 and 2013 respectively, the EIA said.

The agency expects U.S. regular gasoline to average 3.48 dollars a gallon in 2012, and diesel fuel to average 3.85 dollars a gallon.