OPEC expects global oil demand to rise in 2023 but at a slower pace than 2022, the producer group said in its first forecast for next year, citing still robust economic growth and progress in containing COVID-19 in China.
In a monthly report on Tuesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it expects demand to rise by 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or 2.7%, in 2023. It left this year's growth forecast unchanged at 3.36 million bpd.
Oil use has rebounded from the pandemic-induced slump in 2020 and is set to exceed 2019 levels this year. The outlook for 2023 suggests a strain on supplies could persist as growth in non-OPEC output, which has been hit by Russian losses, is expected to lag the rise in demand.
"In 2023 expectations for healthy global economic growth amidst improvements in geopolitical developments, combined with expected improvements in the containment of COVID-19 in China, are expected to boost consumption of oil," OPEC said in the report.
OPEC's demand forecast for 2023 is more optimistic than that of the International Energy Agency, another closely watched forecaster, as well as initial views from OPEC delegates calling for a steeper slowdown due to high prices.
The 2023 forecasts assume there will be no escalation of the war in Ukraine and that risks such as inflation do not take a heavy toll on global economic growth, OPEC said.
OPEC kept this year's global economic growth forecast at 3.5% and forecast growth of 3.2% in 2023, adding uncertainty was skewed to the downside and upside potential "quite limited,” Reuters reported.
Oil held on to an earlier decline after the report was released, trading below $103 a barrel and well off the near-record high of $139 it hit in March.
The supply outlook for 2023 suggests that the market could remain tight.
OPEC expects non-OPEC supply to rise by 1.7 million bpd, lagging demand growth and a slowdown from 2022. As a result, OPEC forecast the world will need 30.1 million bpd in 2023 from its members to balance the market, up 900,000 bpd from 2022.
That could be a stretch, since the group and allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, have been struggling to deliver on pledged output hikes in 2022 to unwind huge cuts made in 2020.
