The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has forecasted that total global oil demand in 2022 will hit 100.6 million barrels per day, which will surpass pre-pandemic levels.
This was disclosed by outgoing OPEC Secretary-General, Mr Mohammad Barkindo on Monday at the 58th virtual Meeting of the Joint Technical Committee.
This comes after OPEC also revealed that global demand for 2021 was pegged at 96.5 million BPD.
What they are saying
The OPEC boss revealed world oil demand increased by 5.7 millioned BPD in 2021 and by 4.2 million BPD from December 2021, adding that recovery expected in the last quarter of 2021 would be felt in the first quarter of 2022, and proposed a lot more steady growth in 2022.
“In addition to closely monitoring the evolving impacts of Omicron variant, other factors to consider will be varying speed of vaccine rollouts worldwide; the uneven pace of economic growth across global regions; and continued supply chain disruptions.
“Additionally, rising inflationary pressures and potential central bank responses remain key factors that require close monitoring,” he said.
On supply side, OPEC said non-OPEC supply in 2021 was expected to grow by 700,000 b/d to average 63.7 mb/d, unchanged from December 2021, and in 2022 to grow at an average of 66.7 mb/d.
OPEC says it continued to monitor the potential near-term impacts if some leading consuming countries carry through with their announced plans to release an estimated 70 mb from their strategic oil reserves.
“Looking at inventories, preliminary data shows total OECD commercial stocks fell by 16mb m-om in November 2021 to 2.721 billion barrels, which is 389 mb lower than the same month one year ago and 211mb below the 2015-2019 average.
“As we usher in the sixth year of collaboration, we move forward with confidence knowing that this highly effective and well-reputed framework for multilateral energy cooperation will once again prove to be the way of the future for this industry,” he said.
OPEC also announced that Mr Haitham Al-Ghais would be the new Secretary-General effective from August 1, 2021. “Al-Ghais, a veteran of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and Kuwait’s OPEC Governor from 2017 to June 2021, currently serves as Deputy Managing Director for International Marketing at KPC.
“He Chaired the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) in 2017 and subsequently served as a Member of the JTC until June 2021,” it said.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported earlier that Brent Crude posted post its biggest annual gain in 12 years, thanks to a global economic recovery from the COVID-19 slump and producer restraint, despite record levels of infections throughout the world as Brent touched $86.70 a barrel in October, the highest since 2018, and WTI reached $85.41 a barrel, the highest since 2014.
