Adodo Osewengie
The Secretary-General, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mr. Mohammad Barkindo, has said that the 100.6 mb/d in 2022 and 96.5 mb/d in 2021 pegged as world total oil demand has overtaken that of the pre-pandemic years.
The OPEC scribe in the first year 2022 meeting, the 58 virtual meeting of the Joint Technical Committee on Monday, said in his opening remark that according to the demand of world oil it is estimated to have increased within December 2021 by 5.7mb/d and 4.2mb/d respectively.
According to Barkindo, as expected in the fourth quarter of 2021 to get some recoveries, it has been shifted to the first quarter of 2022 with a forecast of evenly spread recoveries throughout the second quarter of 2022 taking into cognisance the decline caused by the effect of risks.
He noted that the world after battling with the economic downside of COVID-19 for about two years has been better equipped to manage their economies amid the pandemic.
He added that although the world is now abreast with the ways and knowledge to manage and build better economies, they should be expectant of uncertainties that may overwhelm them which may slow down the economic growth rate.
Barkindo revealed that despite monitoring the evolving impacts Omicron variant, the world must not be weary of other factors like the rollout of the vaccines worldwide, distribution of supply chains and uneven distribution of global economic growth across regions.
Additionally, he noted that the non-OPEC supply in 2021 was expected to grow by 700,000 b/d to an average of 63.7 mb/d, this is unchanged from December 2021 in terms of supply-side.
He also stated that it was predicted in 2022 that non-OPEC supply growth would be at 3.0 mb/d with an average of 66.7 mb/d, and this has been steady since last month.
However, Barkindo reaffirmed of the world stakeholders of the industry’s firm commitments to support and give credence to the important roles geared towards high productivity the group of producers has continued to play.
He revealed that OPEC has developed models and systems which exercise flexibility according to the changes with adaptability to the latest market requirements.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Barkindo said, “additionally, rising inflationary pressures and potential central bank responses remain key factors that require close monitoring,” he said.
“We continued to monitor the potential near-term impacts if some leading consuming countries carry through with their announced plans to release an estimated 70 mb from their strategic oil reserves.
“Looking at inventories, preliminary data shows total OECD commercial stocks fell by 16mb in November 2021 to 2.721 billion barrels, which is 389 mb lower than the same month one year ago and 211mb below the 2015-2019 average.
“However, today we will particularly focus on the prospects for a global supply surplus developing this year.
“As another chapter begins with the New Year 2022, let us remember with a sense of pride all that we have accomplished to date through our landmark Declaration of Cooperation.
“As we usher in the sixth year of collaboration, we move forward with confidence knowing that this highly effective and well-reputed framework for multilateral energy cooperation will once again prove to be the way of the future for this industry,” he added.
