By Vladimir Soldatkin
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices continued to decline on Thursday due to a stronger dollar and a gloomy economic forecast by the World Bank, while a bullish International Energy Agency (IEA) report on global demand failed to dispel concerns over a supply glut.
In its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank predicted that the global economy would expand by 2.8 percent this year, below its 3 percent outlook in January, with India recording the strongest growth among major economies for the first time, ahead of a slowing China.
Meanwhile the IEA, which coordinates energy policy for industrial nations, raised its projection for global oil demand growth in 2015 by 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd, bringing demand this year to almost 94 million bpd.
The agency said that unexpectedly strong global oil demand growth had been supporting oil prices and raised its estimate for world demand for crude from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this year.
Brent crude oil for July
Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank, said the IEA report was not strong enough to ignite a rally on oil markets because OPEC continues to pump about 1 million bpd above its target.
Michael Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets, said a stronger U.S. dollar and persistent oversupply of crude had pushed prices down.
The U.S. dollar <.DXY> rose by 0.74 percent against a basket of currencies, recovering after it dropped to a three-week low.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for buyers using other currencies and tends to weigh on oil prices.
Oil prices had drawn support on Wednesday from big falls in U.S. stocks as the market has gradually tightened after many months of heavy oversupply. However the rally on the data was short-lived.
"The market continues to be oversupplied relative to demand. The fact that oil prices were unable to rally significantly on that number suggests we are in a broad range. The bottom of the range for Brent is about $60 a barrel and the top of the range is about $67-$68 a barrel," Hewson said.
(Additinal reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Christopher Johnson and David Goodman)
