MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has upheld its outlook on the global demand for oil for this and next year, OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) issued Thursday.
"World oil demand is expected to grow by 1.5 mb/d [million barrels a day] in 2015 to average 92.86 mb/d, unchanged from the previous report," it said. "In 2016, world oil demand growth is seen reaching 1.25 mb/d, in line with the previous month’s assessment, to average 94.14 mb/d."
Demand for oil from the 12-member organization is expected to grow by 0.6 mb/d this year to average 29.6 mb/d, the forecast added. Next year’s increase of 1.2 mb/d is anticipated to reach 30.8 mb/d.
Non-OPEC exports will see an increase of 0.72 mb/d to average 57.24 mb/d this year, and slow to 0.13 mb/d next year to average 57.11 mb/d.
"Globally, nearly 5 mb/d of projects have been deferred or canceled due to the current low price environment…The impact of capex cuts in different regions of the world and the decreased tight oil output in the US are the main reasons for negative growth in the next year," the report stated.
Analysts noted an 8 mb/d fall in worldwide offline capacity and refinery margins due to high inventory and an expectation of a mild winter, despite peak October maintenance season.