According to OPEC forecasts, oil demand will continue to grow until the middle of the next decade despite the fact that world leaders are preparing for another attempt to prevent catastrophic climate change.
A report by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said that after a general quarantine, global fuel consumption will fully recover by 2023. It is very probable that the participants of the COP 26 conference, which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland in just four weeks, are unlikely to abandon fossil fuels.
Last year, global oil demand was catastrophically low due to worldwide quarantine and border closures. Now, according to OPEC forecasts, consumption will grow above 100 million barrels per day by 2023 and will continue to grow to 107.9 million barrels per day by 2035. It is worth noting that forecasts have slightly changed compared to last year's report.
Brent crude exceeded $ 80 a barrel before the current energy crisis:
Europe's natural gas prices have reached record highs:
OPEC has begun to gradually restore production volumes that stopped after the pandemic last year.
The oil industry is going through a critical moment. Some energy companies and traders say that the lack of funds for fossil fuel projects in the face of climate change will lead to a lack of supply, which could potentially lead to an even greater increase in oil prices. On the other hand, governments, society, and investors are pushing companies to produce cleaner fuels.
OPEC, consisting of 13 countries that rely on oil sales to finance their budgets, can hardly be a neutral observer. Other participants in the oil market, such as the International Energy Agency and Total Energy USA, expect that demand will reach the limit earlier, around the end of this decade.
The group expects to first face some competition from its main rival, the US shale industry. Production of dense rock oil in the US will grow from an average of 11.5 million barrels per day last year to 14.8 million by 2026. However, OPEC predicts that the growth of shale oil production will slow down by the end of the next decade, making way for organizations.
The report says that most of the oil's global needs will be supplied by OPEC.
