‘Oil deficit in H1 if Opec keeps output limit’

LONDON: Global oil inventories rose for the first time in January as the market grappled with a swell in production last year, but if Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) maintains its output cuts, demand should overtake supply in the first half of this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday.

The IEA said in its monthly report that crude stocks in the world’s richest nations rose in January by 48 million barrels to 3.03 billion barrels.

If Opec maintained its output cut of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to June, the market could show an implied deficit of 500,000 bpd, it said. Reuters