The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its forecasts for global oil demand in 2021 by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 5.4 million bpd, Interfax reported on Thursday.
In its February report published last week, the Paris-based agency predicts global oil demand this year will reach 96.4 million bpd, recovering almost 60% of the volume that was lost due to the pandemic in 2020.
The global demand will decline by 1 million barrels this quarter versus late last year, the IEA said, adding that the favorable economic outlook is underpinning stronger demand in the second half of the year.
The IEA reported that the latest data for OECD oil stocks (December 2020) fell for the fifth consecutive month, recording a huge monthly decline of 44.6 million barrels to 138.3 million barrels above the five-year average. OECD inventories have been steadily declining since the third quarter last year. The OECD oil stocks currently stand at 3.063 billion barrels.
At the same time, OECD oil stocks in December fell in the general balance by a modest 1.1 million barrels.
According to preliminary data, stocks in OECD countries continued to decline in January, mainly in the United States and Japan. In Europe, oil reserves fell by 3.9 million barrels, led by the Netherlands (-2.6 million barrels). In contrast, total inventories of petroleum products in Europe rose by 10.2 million barrels.
