Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Global oil market will remain well supplied that will likely lead to fall in oil prices over the rest of the year, Thomas Pugh, commodities economist at British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics believes.
"Last month's small increase in supply from OPEC just adds to the glut of oil already in the market. Even though the cartel also raised its demand estimates, supply will still be ample," Pugh said in a report obtained by Trend.
The total OPEC crude oil production averaged 30.84 million barrels per day in April, an increase of 18,000 barrels per day over March, according to cartel's oil market report.
Pugh's report mentioned that most of the cartel's Gulf members increased production last month with notable rises from Iran and Iraq. However, these increases were almost completely offset by a sharp fall in output from Angola.
"This drop was due to temporary production problems in two key fields, which have reportedly now largely been resolved," the report said.
OPEC also stated that lower prices are supporting demand and has raised its estimates for 2015 consumption again.
The world oil demand will increase by 1.2 million barrels per day and reach 92.5 million barrels per day in 2015, according to OPEC's forecasts.
Pugh expects OPEC to keep production around the current level for the next year.
"But high stock levels and OPEC supply mean that even when demand picks up more strongly, the market should remain well supplied, economist said in a report. As a result we think prices are now more likely to fall than to rise further over the rest of the year".
Capital Economics' end-2015 forecast for Brent remains $60 per barrel.
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