OPEC raises 2015 oil demand forecast despite market turbulence
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has raised its forecast for global oil demand in the remaining part of this year, despite the existing turbulence in the market caused by financial crises in Greece and China.
The organization said in its August monthly report released on Tuesday that global consumption of crude oil will remain at record levels next year as well, AFP reported.
According to the report, OPEC expects world oil demand to grow by 1.38 million barrels per day (bpd) for the rest of the year, which is about 90,000 bpd higher than the figure announced by the organization in its July estimate.
OPEC also repeated its last month's prognosis that demand growth for crude oil will reach 1.34 million barrels per day in 2016 due to increase in global gross domestic product (GDP), which is to increase from this year’s figure of 3.2 percent to 3.5 percent next year.
"Given the better-than-expected growth in global oil demand so far this year, together with some signs of a pickup in the economies of the major consuming countries, crude oil demand in the coming months should continue to improve and, thus, gradually reduce the imbalance in oil supply-demand fundamentals," OPEC noted in its report.
Oil prices fell by 60 percent between last June and January, hitting as low as USD 45 a barrel, partly because of a supply glut resulting from the boom in US shale oil production.
Despite the oil price slump and a glutted market, OPEC, however, decided to leave its output ceiling intact during a meeting last November.
The organization has so far stuck to this strategy, keeping its total production level at 30 million barrels per day.
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