BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
For 2020, and following the recent agreement reached at the extraordinary OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meetings in April, demand for OPEC crude is expected at 24.3 million barrels per day (mb/d), which is 5.6 mb/d lower than the 2019 level, Trend reports citing OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR).
Demand for OPEC crude in 2019 stood at 29.8 million barrels per day (mb/d), 1.2 mb/d lower than the 2018 level, according to the cartel’s estimates.
“It is worth noting that demand for OPEC crude in 2020 remained almost the same as last month’s assessment, both considering the voluntary adjustment volumes under the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) framework. However, additional reductions recently announced by several OPEC member countries, above and beyond their voluntary commitments under DoC, are expected to expedite market re-balancing, and improve the demand for OPEC crude in 2020,” said OPEC.
World oil demand in 2020 is projected to significantly decrease by 9.07 mb/d, 2.23 mb/d below last month’s estimate, to average 91.10 mb/d.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an economic recession and eroded oil demand growth in many countries across the globe, with unforeseen negative impacts on transportation fuel. Announced lockdowns in many countries around the world – particularly in the US, Europe, India and the Middle East – are causing reduced air travel activities, in addition to lower distances travelled, thereby negatively affecting gasoline and jet fuel demand growth in 2Q20 and for 2020 as a whole,” reads the report.
The cartel expects industrial fuels also to face pressure in response to reduced manufacturing activity compared with last year, negatively affecting diesel and residual fuel demand. Petrochemical feedstock is projected to decline y-o-y, driven by slower end-user requirements for plastics.
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