Opec Adjusted Its Global Oil Demand Forecast in its August Oil Market Report

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on Friday released its August crude oil market report, revising its forecast for global crude oil demand growth from 8.95 million barrels per day to 9.06 million barrels per day in 2020. The forecast is for global crude oil demand to fall to 90.63 million barrels per day in 2020, 9.09 percent lower than in 2019.

Global oil demand is forecast to grow by 7 million barrels per day (BPD) in 2021, unchanged from the previous year. Global oil demand is forecast to grow by 77.63 million BPD in 2021, an increase of 7.72% over 2020.

Due to the further negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report expects the global economy to contract by 4 per cent in 2020, up from a projected decline of 3.7 per cent last month.

The report says there is still a lot of uncertainty ahead as oil prices continue to fluctuate in the second half of the year on concerns about a second wave of COVID-19 infections and rising global inventories.