Global oil supply in March increased by around 370,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to the previous month to average 99.66 million bpd, marking a year-on-year rise of 6.03 million bpd, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Tuesday.
The organization's monthly oil market report shows that OPEC crude oil production averaged 28.56 million bpd in March, for an increase of about 57,000 bpd month on month. Crude oil output rose mainly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, while production in Libya, Nigeria and Congo declined.
Production increased by 54,000 bpd to 10.26 million bpd in Saudi Arabia, by 25,000 bpd to nearly 2.64 million bpd in Kuwait, and by 23,000 bpd to 2.98 million bpd in the UAE. Meanwhile, oil output in Libya decreased by 37,000 bpd to around 1.07 million bpd, and fell by 24,000 bpd to 1.35 million bpd in Nigeria, and by 15,000 bpd to 260,000 bpd in Congo.
The share of OPEC crude out of total global production decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 28.7% in March compared with the previous month.
Non-OPEC liquids production, including OPEC natural gas liquids, grew by about 320,000 bpd in March compared to the previous month to average 71.10 million bpd, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.54 million bpd.
"Preliminary estimated increases in production during March were mainly driven from the US and Norway by 260,000 bpd, due to the ending of outages, improved weather conditions, and shale oil production increases," the report said.
- OPEC revises down oil demand forecast for 2022
The organization revised down its global oil demand growth forecast for 2022 by around 500,000 barrels to stand at 3.7 million bpd, mostly reflecting the downward revision in world economic growth.
Demand growth for the OECD is forecast at 1.9 million bpd, while non-OECD is projected to grow by 1.8 million bpd.
World oil demand is now forecast to average 100.5 million bpd, which, according to OPEC is "400,000 bpd lower than the previous month's estimates and approximately 300,000 bpd higher than 2019.”
OPEC said the decrease in demand reflects the declines in global GDP on account of the geopolitical developments and the resurgence of the Omicron variant on global oil demand in China.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr