The International Energy Agency (IEA)
on Wednesday projected an increase in global oil demand at around
90.5 mb/d in fourth quarter of this year, 435 kb/d more than
forecast last month.
The rising forecast was boosted by the increased demand in China
and based on the stronger-than-expected October preliminary demand
data, IEA said in its latest Oil Market Report (OMR), a monthly
publication which provides a view of the state of the international
oil market and projections for oil supply and demand 12-18 months
ahead.
However, demand risks still challenge the oil market as "global
economic expansion remains tepid," the outlook for demand growth in
2013 remains "relatively sluggish", at 900,000 barrels a day (900 kb/
d), IEA projected.
As for production, the energy organization noted that oil
production of NON-OPEC "bounced back by 0.7 mb/d in November on the
month, to 54 mb/d after fields in the North Sea and Brazil returned
from maintenance."
IEA remained optimistic with the oil production in the United
States as its output also rose steeply and "will contribute to an
aggregate non-OPEC increase of 0.9 mb/d to 54.2 mb/d in 2013, the
highest growth rate since 2010."
Meanwhile, the crude oil supply in OPEC inched up in November,
led by higher output from Saudi Arabia, Angola, Algeria and Libya,
but the output remained constrained in Nigeria by severe flooding
and sabotage, and in Iran by "shipping constraints and stepped-up
sanctions."
"Compared with a year ago, global supplies were 1.9 mb/d higher,
with increased OPEC supplies accounting for 70 percent of the year-
on-year growth," IEA reported.
On the same day, OPEC agreed to keep the cartel's oil production
limit of 30 million barrels per day, given the weakness and
uncertainty of the world economy in 2013.
