The FINANCIAL — Global oil demand in 2015 will be higher than previously forecast, as economic growth, colder winter weather conditions in many large consuming countries and lower crude prices boosted consumption in the first half of the year, the International Energy Agency said on June 11, according to Nasdaq.
In its closely watched monthly oil market report, the IEA estimated demand will increase by 1.4 million barrels a day, to average 94 million a day this year, raising its projection from last month by 300,000 a day.
But global demand, which rose roughly by 1.6 million barrels a day from a year earlier in the first half of 2015, is expected to grow by only 1.2 million barrels a day in the second half.
The IEA, a Paris-based group that monitors energy trends for many industrialized countries, said the growing demand may not be enough to catch up with supplies that are still growing.
The agency revised up its forecast of 2015 non-OPEC production growth by 195,000 barrels a day to nearly 1 million barrels a day.
The agency also said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries raised its production in May by 50,000 barrels a day to 31.33 million barrels a day, the highest since August 2012 as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates pumped at record monthly rates.
OPEC’s lofty production reduced its ‘effective’ spare capacity to 2.38 million barrels a day last month, but the cartel is likely to keep pumping at around 31 million barrels a day in during the coming months as its Middle Eastern producers work on maintaining market share and meeting summer domestic demand.
The call on OPEC crude and stock change was revised up by 100,000 barrels a day to 29.4 million barrels a day in 2015, the IEA said.
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