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OPEC cut its forecast for global oil demand growth next year because of a worsening economic outlook and said a disappointing economic performance in top consumer the United States could further weigh on fuel use.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a monthly report on Monday, also said concerns were easing about a tight oil market in the fourth quarter of the year and that it expected Libyan oil output to return to full capacity in less than 18 months, more quickly than some estimates.

"Looking ahead, the perception of market tightness and worries of supply shortages in the fourth quarter appear to be easing," the report said.

"In the wake of reduced global economic growth, which has led to a downward revision in oil demand, the required crude supply has been revised down in the third and fourth quarters at a time when OPEC crude oil production continues to increase and the partial return of Libya production is expected soon."

World oil demand will increase by 1.06 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2011, OPEC said in the report, 150,000 bpd less than expected last month. The growth estimate for next year was lowered by 40,000 bpd to 1.27 million bpd.

OPEC said a weaker-than-expected U.S. economy could further reduce demand growth next year by 200,000 bpd.

Libya has started producing oil again, the country's interim prime minister said on Sunday, promising that more of it would come online in the "near future". The civil war had virtually halted output in the OPEC member-country, which produced 1.6 million bpd before the conflict.

The reduction in next year's demand growth forecast is smaller than that of the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration, which last week cut its estimate for 2012 by about 250,000 bpd to 1.39 million bpd.

Another closely watched monthly oil report is due on Tuesday, from the International Energy Agency, adviser to 28 industrialized countries.

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