12 April 2012, Sweetcrude, VIENNA – The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has left its forecast for global oil demand growth for this year unchanged for a second month.
It said in its latest market report that there were signs that a slowdown in global economic activity is easing and that global oil demand would rise by 860,000 barrels per day in the year, same figure as previous prediction.
OPEC, which pumps more than a third of the world’s oil, had cut its growth forecast from an initial estimate 1.3 million barrels per day due to a weaker economic outlook.
It said on Thursday the outlook was levelling off, according to Reuters report.
The market report, which is written by economists from the Vienna, Austria-based organisation, said: “Some encouraging signs have pointed at a stabilisation of the slowdown in economic activity.
“The US is at present experiencing better-than-expected momentum and, along with the recovery in Japan and higher exports from Germany, this should provide some support for the global economic recovery.”
The group also reported higher supply from its members as Libya’s oil industry recovers, with production rising to 31.31 million barrels per day in March, 1.31 million barrels per day above target levels according to secondary sources, despite lower Iranian production.
In a new development, OPEC began issuing production figures as reported to OPEC headquarters by member countries. Ten members, all except Algerian and Ecuador, provided March figures.
OPEC has for many years used secondary sources to monitor its output, a legacy of past disputes about how much oil members said they were pumping.
According to the “direct communication” figures, Iran has told OPEC its output was steady in March at 3.76 million barrels per day and has risen so far in 2012, effectively denying that supply has suffered due to sanctions on Tehran.
Venezuela, which has long argued its production is higher than secondary sources say, told OPEC it pumped 2.82 million barrels per day in March, while secondary sources estimated Venezuelan production at 2.38 million barrels per day.
OPEC’s report is the third of three closely-watched forecasts on oil demand after those of the International Energy Agency and the US Energy Information Administration released in the past two days.
