São Paulo – Global demand for oil is slowing at a faster rate than previously expected, as per this month’s edition of the Oil Market Report made public this Tuesday (13) by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a multilateral organization based in Paris.
It trimmed its expectation of growth in demand for 2016 by 100,000 barrels per day, to 1.3 million bpd. For 2017, the forecast is even smaller at 1.2 million bpd. It said the international macroeconomic scenario remains uncertain.
Global oil output, in turn, slid by 300,000 bpd in August from a year ago to 96.9 million bpd. The slowdown was driven by countries that are not members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), according to the IEA. Opec members, on the other hand, neared an all-time high, and this partly made up for losses in non-members.
In 2017, the IEA expects non-Opec countries’ output to be up 380,000 bpd; this year, it sees production plummeting by 840,000 bpd.
Opec countries produced a combined 33.47 million bpd in August, up 930,000 bpd from August 2015. This was so, according to the IEA, because “Middle East producers opened the taps.”
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reached record production numbers, Iraq increased its output, Saudi Arabia neared its all-time peak, and Iran put out the most oil since economic sanctions on it were lifted.
The IEA also said Brent crude prices leaped from USD 42 to over USD 50 in early August, but that as of the writing of the report they ranged from USD 46.35 to USD 48.45 in major stock exchanges.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
