OpeOluwani Akintayo
02 December 2017, Sweetcrude, Vienna, Austria — The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has said global oil demand growth now stands at 1.5 million barrels per day, mb/d for both 2017 and 2018.
The group made the submission at the end of its 173rd meeting with Non-OPEC oil producers held in Vienna, Austria on Thursday.
According to OPEC under the chairmanship of its president and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Industrial and Mineral Resources, Khalid A. Al-Falih, the forecast was as a result of oil market outlook for the remainder of 2017 and 2018.
It observed that global economic growth forecast had improved since May, with expectations for both 2017 and 2018 now at 3.7 percent.
In addition, it said global oil demand had been robust with upward revisions since May, with oil demand growth now above 1.5 million barrels per day for both years.
The International Energy Agency, IEA, had in November, revised down by 0.1mb/d demand for both 2017 and 2018.
According to the agency, the downward revision was due to higher prices and relatively mild early winter temperature.
The IEA said it now sees 1.5mb/d in 2017 or 1.6 percent, to 97.7 thousand b/d, and 1.3mb/d in 2018 or 1.3 percent, to 98.9 tb/d.
OPEC final submission on oil demand was earlier projected inside its Oil Market Report for November, where it forecast that world oil demand growth was expected to rise by 1.53 mb/d in 2017 after an upward adjustment of 74 tb/d to account for the better-than-expected performance of China in 3Q17, while in 2018, it said world oil demand is foreseen reaching 1.51 mb/d, around 130 tb/d higher than in the previous assessment.
