According to the estimates provided by OPEC, this year, demand for oil may decline by 9.77 million barrels a day. The oil cartel has slightly cut its forecast compared to the previous month. The figures were downwardly revised due to the weak OECD data for the third quarter. This, in turn, was caused by lower demand on transportation fuel in the US and European OECD member countries. As a result, OPEC lowered the indicator by 0.18 million barrels a day to 89.99 million barrels a day.
Recently, demand for crude oil in the countries outside the OECD was upwardly revised by 0.16 million barrels a day. The changes were made amid China’s high consumption of oil triggered by the stable economic recovery after the virus-induced crisis.
OPEC foresees that in 2021, global demand for hydrocarbon may advance by 5.9 barrels a day to 96.89 million barrels a day. This is 0.35 million barrels lower than in the previous month. Representatives of the oil cartel emphasize that the current situation reflects uncertainties over the pandemic’s impact on transportation fuel in OECD countries in the first half of 2021. This, in turn, poses pressure on future demand for oil and other commodities.
According to preliminary data, in October 2020, total OECD commercial oil stocks dropped by 46.3 million barrels a day to 3.145 billion. At the same time, crude oil reserves declined by 21.5 million barrels a day whereas stocks of crude oil products slumped by 24.8 million barrels a day. In November, commercial oil stocks in the US slid by 22.6 million barrels a day to 1.354 trillion barrels. As a result, oil inventories jumped by 3.6 million barrels a day whereas stockpiles of oil products fell by 26.2 million barrels on a monthly basis.
