OPEC SEEKS $12.6TN INVESTMENTS TO REVAMP GLOBAL OIL INDUSTRY

contraction compared to what we forecast for the year back in January.

“In 2021, we expect growth to bounce back to 6.2 million b/d, to just over 96 million b/d, compared to our precoronavirus expectations for demand reaching almost 102 million b/d next year.

“The recent revisions are due to the easing pace of the economic recovery and recent Covid-19 containment measures, which are assumed to impact transportation and industrial fuel demand well into next year,” he said.

He noted that the crucial market rebalancing efforts are now further complicated by high stock levels, stressing that preliminary data for October shows that total OECD commercial oil stocks were 208 million barrels above the latest five-year average, compared to 13 million barrels below the five-year average in January of this year.

“Total global inventories have surged by more than 1 billion barrels since the beginning of this year. These figures would have been dramatically higher – and clearly unsustainable – had it not been for the unprecedented cooperative efforts taken to address the imbalance in fundamentals and stabilize the market.

“In April, we delivered an unprecedented response to an unparalleled market shock, by adjusting output down by 9.7 million b/d, or roughly 10 per cent global demand at the time.

“These efforts were spearheaded by leaders of major world oil producers and further supported by the G20, in the spirit of solidarity, at the group’s Extraordinary Energy Ministerial Meeting on April 10th,” he recalled.