OPEC on Tuesday stuck to its forecast for robust growth in world oil demand in 2022 despite the Omicron coronavirus variant and expected interest-rate hikes, predicting that the oil market would remain well supported through the year.
“Monetary actions are not expected to hinder underlying global economic growth momentum, but rather serve to recalibrate otherwise overheating economies,” OPEC said in the report.World consumption is expected to surpass the 100 million bpd mark in the third quarter, in line with last month’s forecast. On an annual basis according to OPEC, the world last used over 100 million bpd of oil in 2019.
OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, are gradually unwinding record output cuts put in place last year. At its last meeting, OPEC+ agreed to boost monthly output by 400,000 bpd in February, despite concern about the new variant.