MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti) - The world oil price will remain stable at around the current level during 2006, an analyst at international agency Fitch Ratings said Thursday.

Jeffrey Woodruff said the price would either remain at the current level or rise very slightly. A decline in the oil price is only possible in 2007, he said.

Woodruff said two factors might send the price down: a decline in the currently inordinate demand for oil from Asian countries, or a reduction of export capacity in the Middle East, primarily in Saudi Arabia.

The situation on the oil market is unlikely to change within the next 12 months, he said.

The analyst predicted that the average price of crude on U.S. stock exchanges would be about $67 per barrel next year.