On Wednesday, oil prices slipped about 4% to hit almost six-month lows. Brent crude futures settled down 3.7% at $96.78 a barrel. The decline was mainly driven by U.S. data showing an unexpected rise in crude and gasoline stockpiles and OPEC+ agreeing to raise its oil output target by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd).
On the other hand, OPEC has provided an optimistic outlook on global oil demand. The cartel expects total world demand in 2023 to average a record high of 103 million bpd, up from the 100.29 million bpd expected for 2022. OPEC sees a fourth-quarter demand as high as 105.4 million bpd.
