Opec reveals oil demand is set to grow in 2015
BRENT crude oil was up slightly yesterday, to around $58 a barrel, after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) projected that global oil demand will go up over the next 12 months.
Demand for Opec crude in 2015 was revised up by 400,000 barrels per day (b/d) from the previous month’s assessment, to average 29.2m b/d, which is 100,000 b/d higher than this time last year. According to the organisation, the change in projection was “driven mainly by a downward adjustment in non-Opec supply”.
In its monthly market report for February, Opec stated that the heightened projection was mainly a reflection of expectations of an uptick in oil requirements in “OECD Americas”.
It added that the picture of US oil demand is “generally in line with the economic improvements seen in the country, especially when considering the increase in oil requirements for the industrial and transportation sectors, as a result of lower fuel prices”. Opec also noted that a “heavy decline in total onshore rig counts” in the US could impact production.
On the subject of weak oil prices, the organisation stated: “Although lower oil prices could theoretically turn out to be an additional source of support for global economic growth, their negative effects in oil producing countries seem to be offsetting their positive effects in consumer countries in the current year.”