Africa
THE International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its forecast for growth in the global demand for crude oil.
The IEA’s monthly report published in Paris on Thursday said the gas crisis caused by the Ukraine war has led to a massive price increase for natural gas on the commodity markets and caused more industrial companies and power plants to run on oil.
In recent months, Russia has drastically reduced gas supplies to Europe.
The agency expects global oil demand to grow by 2.1 million barrels (159 litres each) per day this year, which is 380,000 barrels per day or about 2 per cent more than in the previous estimate.
Total demand is expected to be 99.7 million barrels per day this year, according to the agency’s estimate.
Demand is then expected to rise to 101.8 million barrels per day next year.
The higher demand for crude oil is expected above all in Europe and the Middle East, the monthly report of the interest grouping of Western industrialised countries says.
According to the report, Russian oil production has been more stable than expected in spite of the sanctions imposed by Western countries.
However, production has even increased in the past three months, reaching about 10.8 million barrels per day in July.
The IEA points to the robust exports of Russian oil to Asia.
In the coming months, however, new sanctions imposed by the European Union are expected to lead to a decline in Russian oil production.
It said that this could lead to a drop in production of about 20 per cent at the beginning of 2023. (dpa/NAN)
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Tags: International Energy Agency
