Oil-producing countries plan to use more at home

An OPEC study warns that oil-producing countries could double their consumption of oil and natural gas in the next decade, cutting sharply into supplies for export to other countries. It says the cartel's 13 nations used about 3.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 1979 -- 2 million barrels in petroleum products and 1.3 million in natural gas. Predicting that use of OPEC oil products would climb 15 percent this year to 2.4 million barrels a day, and hit 3.9 million barrels a day in 1985, it said that by 1990 consumption could rise to 6.3 million barrels a day. If OPEC continues to produce about 30 million barrels a day, the amount of oil available for export would be pared to 26.1 million barrels a day in 1985 and 23.7 million barrels a day in 1990.