By Yusuf Khan
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries left its forecast for the global oil market largely unchanged, continuing to forecast rising demand despite cuts to supply from Saudi Arabia and Russia lasting until the end of the year.
The Vienna-based oil producers’ cartel said in a monthly report on Thursday that it foresees oil demand rising by 2.4 million barrels a day this year and by a further 2.2 million barrels a day in 2024, unchanged from the forecast made in September.
The group made minor tweaks to supply expectations as it lifted its non-OPEC forecast for 2023 growth by 100,000 barrels a day to 1.7 million barrels a day. It left the supply-growth forecast for 2024 unchanged at 1.4 million barrels a day.
The International Energy Agency also released its oil-market report on Thursday, but highlighted major risks to oil markets amid the current conflict in Israel and rising tensions across the Middle East. OPEC didn’t mention the conflict in its report.
The oil cartel, of which Saudi Arabia is the largest producer, employs large teams of analysts to gauge and predict global oil demand.
It lifted its 2023 global economic growth forecast to 2.8% from 2.7%, but expects global growth to slow to 2.6% next year.
Citing secondary sources OPEC said Saudi Arabian oil production rose by 82,000 barrels a day in September, seemingly at odds with the country’s public move to cut output this year. Last month, the Kingdom reaffirmed its position to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day until the end of the year.
Nigerian oil production also rose on month, by 141,000 barrels a day, OPEC said, citing secondary sources. Overall, OPEC crude output rose by 273,000 barrels a day to 27.75 million barrels a day in September, according to secondary sources.
Write to Yusuf Khan at [email protected]
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