OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais confirmed that the Chinese demand for oil will increase between 500 and 600 thousand barrels per day in 2023 with the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in the largest importer of crude in the world.

Al-Ghais said during the CERA Week Energy Conference in Houston, with the opening of China, we are very optimistic and cautious.

He added that OPEC expects global oil demand to grow by 2.3 million barrels per day in 2023.

The activities of the CeraWeek conference in Houston, USA, began this week to discuss energy issues, and this is the first time that the Secretary General of OPEC has met with the heads of American oil companies.

CERA Week will focus on concerns about the global energy supply.

On the other hand, Al-Ghais stressed that oil production in Russia is still at high levels, as it remained strong despite the price ceiling policy imposed on it and its products, as Russia was able to find new markets to sell oil to.

He pointed out that the new markets that receive Russian oil are not only China and India, but I believe that Turkey has also become a market for Russian oil.

Earlier, on the sidelines of the Davos 2023 Forum, OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais expected that lifting Corona restrictions in China would stimulate oil demand during the current year, suggesting that Chinese demand would raise oil demand by about half a million barrels per day.

The latest report of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed that OPEC raised its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2023 by 100,000 barrels per day compared to last month's expectations, to reach 2.3 million barrels per day in 2023.