THE Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has made a further cut to its global oil demand growth forecast.
OPEC’s projections for both 2022 and 2023 have now been reduced by about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd).
OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) released on Monday, November 14 stated that this year’s growth was pegged at 2.55 million bpd, compared with a previous forecast of 2.64 million bpd.
According to OPEC, the downgrade was underpinned by the extension of China’s zero-covid restrictions and “some economic challenges in OECD Europe that have weighed on oil demand.”
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This was as the Chinese government last week stressed the need to stick with its zero-covid policy, calling for more targeted restrictions.
Even with the expectation that global oil demand next year would be supported by the containment of covid-19 in China and by geopolitical improvements, OPEC cut its growth forecast to 2.24 million bpd, from 2.34 million bpd.
The cartel reduced its 2022 forecast for oil supply growth from non-OPEC producers by 30,000 bpd to 1.9 million bpd, with upwards revisions for Russia and Latin America.
“It should be noted, however, that considerable uncertainty remains with regard to Russia’s liquids output in (the fourth quarter of 2022),” OPEC said.
Meanwhile, OPEC’s crude oil production dropped by 210,000 bpd in October compared to the previous month.
The development came after the cartel and the wider OPEC+ group reversed the small output increase in September.
All 13 OPEC members, including Venezuela, Iran and Libya who are not part of the OPEC+ pact, recorded an average of 29.49 million bpd crude oil production in October, This Day reported.
OPEC’s production has been predicted to decline further in the coming months, following the reduction made by the OPEC+ alliance to its collective target by 2 million bpd for November.
