HOUSTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil prices increased in April, but they are expected to decrease through 2019 and 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday.

EIA also forecast that crude oil production in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will average 30.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2019 and 29.8 million b/d in 2020, compared with an average of 32 million b/d in 2018.

In its May Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Tuesday, EIA said that Brent crude oil spot prices averaged 71 U.S. dollars per barrel in April, up by 5 dollars per barrel from the previous month and just below the price in April 2018.

EIA forecast Brent spot prices will average 70 dollars per barrel in 2019 and 67 dollars per barrel in 2020, both about 5 dollars per barrel higher than in last month's STEO, compared with an average of 71 dollars per barrel in 2018.

EIA's higher monthly Brent crude oil price forecast reflects tighter expected global oil market balances in mid-2019 and increasing supply disruption risks globally.

Meanwhile, EIA forecast global oil inventories to decline by 200,000 b/d in 2019 and then increase by 100,000 b/d in 2020.

In EIA's forecast, global demand will outpace supply in 2019. The demand is expected to rise by 1.5 million b/d in 2020, up from expected growth of 1.4 million b/d in 2019. While global liquid fuels supply is expected to increase by 1.9 million b/d in 2020, with 1.5 million of that growth coming from the United States. Enditem

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