Oil dipped as signs of stubborn US inflation whipsawed wider markets and OPEC said its latest supply cuts stalled.
Opec has once again kept unchanged its bullish forecast for oil demand growth this year, even while others including Saudi state-controlled Aramco continue to see much lower levels of growth.
Oil prices closed 1% lower on Friday and fell even more for the week as markets remained wary of soft Chinese demand even as producer group OPEC+ extended supply cuts.
If oil disappeared tomorrow, there would be no more jet fuel, gasoline or diesel. Internal combustion engine automobiles, buses, trucks, lorries and coaches would be stranded. Airplanes powered by jet fuel would be grounded. Freight and passenger rail powered by diesel would halt. People could not get to work; children could not get to school. The shipping industry, transporting both freight and passengers, would be devastated.
Non-OPEC production growth set to outstrip OPEC output growth: S&P Global
Non-OPEC+ oil finding new markets traditionally controlled by the Middle East
South Korea, Taiwan appetite for US crude robust; India’s Russian crude buying intact
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation CEO Al-Sabah: Global oil demand looks robust.
Al-Sabah: U.S. shale production has helped meet part of the recent growth in world oil consumption.
As part of the voluntary OPEC+ cuts, Kuwait has pledged to voluntarily reduce its crude oil production by 135,000 bpd.
Heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia, alongside several other key OPEC+ producers, will extend their voluntary crude supply cuts until the end of the second quarter.
LONDON-Oil prices pulled back on Wednesday as the prospect of delays to U.S. interest rate cuts and a jump in U.S. crude stocks that trounced expectations offset a boost from a potential extension to OPEC+ supply curbs.
Vitol: A slower pace of the energy transition will push peak oil demand beyond 2030.
Vitol CEO Hardy: Overall global demand for oil, natural gas, and coal is also set to peak later than expected as the energy transition is progressing slower than initially thought.
OPEC, which has a vested interest in continued oil demand growth for decades, sees robust demand even in the long term.
Saudi Arabia’s crude production increased to 8.94 million barrels per day in December 2023, a monthly rise of 1.43 percent, according to a Joint Organizations Data Initiative study.
The analysis revealed the Kingdom’s crude exports in December declined by 28,000 bpd to 6.3 million bpd, a 0.44 percent decrease from November.