The oil exporting Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kept its forecast for global oil demand growth for the year 2023 unchanged from last month at 2.2 million barrels per day, in a monthly report issued by the organization on Tuesday.
OPEC expected oil demand to grow in OECD countries by 300,000 barrels per day, and countries outside it by 1.9 million barrels per day, led by China and India.
OPEC said that these expectations take into account the containment of the (Covid-19) pandemic in China and the return of the Chinese economy to pre-pandemic growth, while the continued growth of the Indian economy is expected to support the demand for oil.
OPEC added that these estimates may change as a result of the many uncertainties plaguing the world, including developments in the global economy, (Covid-19) containment measures, especially in China, and ongoing geopolitical tensions.
OPEC did not change its view of oil demand growth for this year and kept it at 2.5 million barrels per day.
As for the global economy, OPEC revised its forecast for the growth of the global economy for the year 2022 slightly to 2.8% from 2.7% in its previous estimates, after the GDP in the economies of some countries recorded growth in the third quarter of this year, slightly exceeding expectations.
For the next year (2023), OPEC kept its forecast for global economic growth at 2.5%, unchanged from its expectations last month, explaining that the year 2023 is expected to be surrounded by many uncertainties, which requires caution and caution.
Total oil demand is expected to reach 99.6 million barrels in 2022, unchanged from last month's forecast.
According to the report on secondary sources, the production of the 13 OPEC member states declined last November by 744,000 barrels per day compared to October, to an average of 28.83 million barrels per day.
