WASHINGTON - The monthly average price for oil is expected to stay above $40 per barrel through the middle of 2005, according to the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The EIA's latest "Short-Term Energy Outlook" notes that oil prices are remaining high even though OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is producing oil at its highest levels since it began tracking oil quotas in 1982. World oil surplus production capacity is near its lowest point of the last 30 years, while petroleum inventories throughout the industrialized world remain below normal.