OPEC keeps global oil demand forecasts unchanged

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its short-term global oil demand forecasts unchanged.

In its May oil market report the cartel pegged total world demand growth in 2024 and 2025 at 2.2m barrels and 1.8m barrels a day, respectively.

Supplies of liquids from outside the so-called non-Declaration of Cooperation space meanwhile was forecast to increase by 1.2m and 1.1m b/d during those two years, respectively.

Thus, demand for DoC crude in 2024 was estimated at 43.2m b/d, the same amount that was estimated the month before, or about 0.9m b/d more than in 2023.

Brazil, Canada, Norway and the US would account for the lion's share of the increase in non-DoC supplies.

The DoC encompasses OPEC member countries and a further 10 nations, including Kazhakstan, Mexico, Russia and Sudan.

So-called 'forward cover' for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development rose by 0.1 days month-on-month in April to reach 60.1 days.

That was 2.2 days less than the average level between 2015 and 2019.

Forward cover measures how many days'-worth of demand can be covered via commercial crude oil stockpiles.

Among other things, those stockpiles act as a buffer in case of supply disruptions.