Oil cartel OPEC kept its world oil demand growth forecasts for next year unchanged and said its decision last week to cut output by 500,000 bpd as of Feb 1, 2007 will help address looming market imbalances. The cartel said in its monthly report for November it continues to see world oil demand growing by 1.3 mln bpd next year, driven by continued strong demand from the Middle East and China. For 2006, OPEC said it kept its demand growth forecast broadly unchanged at 1 mln bpd, although the numbers represents a slight 500,000 bpd downward revision from the last monthly report. The cartel said robust global economic growth this year was not matched by growth in oil demand, while a particularly mild winter and rising oil prices also helped dampen 2006 demand growth. Looking ahead to next year, it said "risks for oil demand appear to be more weighed on the downside, given the dangers to global economic growth emanating from a visibly weakening US economy". It added that ample global stockpile levels are sufficient to accommodate strong first quarter demand and that its decision last week to delay further output cuts until February will help ensure sufficient crude supplies. Moreover, the decision - which come in addition to a 1.2 mln bpd cut that came into effect on Nov 1 - will also help address looming market imbalances, said OPEC