With china's economy on the boil and a recovery simmering in other countries, demand for oil will increase faster than expected this year and in 2004, the International Energy Agency said.

　　Demand has surged this autumn in the United States and several other industrialized nations, while Chinese demand appears to be advancing "at a breakneck pace," the Paris-based agency said on Wednesday in its monthly oil report.

　　The global appetite for crude in 2003 will grow by a robust 1.9 percent, or 1.44 million barrels a day, and in 2004 by 1.5 percent, or 1.16 million barrels a day. The IEA raised its estimates for daily demand growth in the two years by 160,000 barrels and 90,000 barrels, respectively.

　　Crude supplies grew only half as fast in November as in October, due partly to a leveling off in production from oil fields in the North Sea, and tight oil inventories have exacerbated swings in already-high crude prices.

　　Although opec members agreed to cut their production beginning November 1, they still pumped 1.2 million barrels a day above their output ceiling, the IEA said. Analysts say this cushion of excess production has helped to moderate crude prices before peak winter demand for heating oil in the northern hemisphere.

　　The iea is the energy watchdog for the world's biggest oil-importing countries.

　　Chinese demand for crude jumped by 11.5 percent in October, though this growth will slow as China becomes constrained by limits on its capacity to generate electricity, the agency said.

　　"The pull from the Far East has taken over from the typical US-centric focus as the key driver for the oil market," it said.

　　Paul horsnell, head of energy research at Barclays Capital in London, agreed that China's thirst for oil imports has become a significant factor in global markets. China is a top oil importer after the United States, and both countries are leading the global economic recovery.

　　"It's been quite a while since we've seen the Chinese and US economies going on all cylinders," Horsnell said.

　　World oil supplies rose in November to 81.7 million barrels a day, up 625,000 barrels a day - or 0.8 percent - from October. OPEC contributed 285,000 barrels of this increase, while non-OPEC producers such as Angola, Brazil and Russia chipped in the rest, the IEA said.

　　Iraq boosted its daily oil production by 320,000 barrels last month for a daily total of 1.9 million barrels.