BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11. Global demand for oil products in 2022 is expected to increase by 3 percent, compared to 2021, and exceed the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level in the second half of 2023, Ed Crooks, Vice-Chair at Wood Mackenzie, a global research and consultancy group, said, Trend reports via WoodMac.
According to Crooks, despite the impact of lockdowns in China in order to control the spread of coronavirus, the global oil products’ demand proceeds with recovery.
Meanwhile, “Brent has been trading this week in a range of around $120-$125 a barrel — and refining margins that have blown out to record levels,” the expert noted.
As he explained, the shortage of refining capacity, the strategy of the OPEC+, pressures on the exploration and production companies to return their capital, and the shortage of the refining capacity have already impacted the supply. New sanctions on Russia by the US and the European buyers, the EU’s plan to ban oil imports from Russia will lead to further curtail of Russian exports, which in turn will lead to further price increase for both crude and refined products.
The OPEC+ countries, that have initially planned to cut their production to 432,000 barrels per day, now agreed on limiting it by 648,000 barrels per day for July, accelerating the increase originally scheduled for September.
“However, OPEC members have in total been producing about 920,000 barrels per day less than their agreed target, principally because of shortfalls from Angola and Nigeria,” Crooks noted.
“Wood Mackenzie expects the US crude production to increase by 570,000 barrels per day in 2022, which is well below the pace of growth seen in the boom years of the early 2010s,” the expert said.
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