In May’s Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC rated both 2018 oil supply and demand forecasts.
For 2018, oil demand growth is forecast to increase by around 1.65mb/d to average 98.85 mb/d. Growth was revised higher from prior month by 25tb/d. China is anticipated to lead oil demand growth in 2018, followed by Other Asia and OECD Americas. Non-OPEC supply growth was revised up by 0.01mbs in 2018 to 1.75mb/d, averaging 59.62mb/d in total. Meanwhile, OPEC production rose 12tb/d to average 31.93mb/d in April.
In the section regarding world economy, OPEC warned of the risk of development in trade relations. In particular, it “the latest rounds of US sanctions on Russia, tariffs on Chinese products in combination with considerable requests by the US in trade negotiations with China, US tariffs on steel and aluminium, prolonged North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations, as well as the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with IR Iran all point to rising uncertainty.
Full report can be found here.
