(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Minister of Energy and Industry and current President of Opec
H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said yesterday the oil market was advancing on its way to recovery.
“As we proceed to the second quarter of the year we see an increase in global demand for oil due to demand for oil products particularly petrol. This trend is likely to increase further from next month due to the onset of the summer driving season” he said in a statement.
The world oil supply is declining. Accelerating closure of high-cost production facilities and declining numbers of drilling rigs in operation are among the main reasons for the drop in out production around the world.
The current level of oil prices is the main reason for the lack of investment in the oil industry Dr Al Sada added.
He said the market on the right track towards rebalancing in the second half of this year. The next Opec Ministerial Meeting is scheduled for June 2 in Vienna. Member countries will review the oil market situation along with current and future dynamics of oil supply and demand.
Meanwhile the price of Opec basket of 13 crudes stood at $40.76 a barrel on Monday compared with $40.55 the previous Friday according to Opec Secretariat calculations.
Opec’s monthly oil market report for April noted the Opec Reference Basket recovered in February for the first time in three months gaining 8.4 percent or $2.22 to reach $28.72/b. Crude oil futures were mixed with ICE Brent ending up $1.60 to reach $33.53/b while Nymex WTI fell by $1.16 to stand at $30.62/b.
The Brent-WTI spread halted its narrowing trend widening by $2.76 to $2.91/b.
According to the report world oil demand growth for 2015 stood at 1.54 mb/d to average 92.98 mb/d in line with the previous report. Global oil demand growth this year also remains unchanged at around 1.25 mb/d to average 94.23 mb/d.
Non-Opec oil supply growth last year has been revised up by 100 tb/d to 1.42 mb/d for an average of 57.09 mb/d. The revision was mostly driven by upward adjustments to 4Q15 data in the OECD.
This year non-Opec oil supply is forecast to contract by 0.70 mb/d to average 56.39 mb/d. Opec NGLs are expected to increase by 0.17 mb/d this year following growth of 0.15 mb/d last year.
In February Opec crude production according to secondary sources decreased by 175 tb/d to average 32.28 mb/d. OECD commercial oil stocks rose in January to 3023mb. At this level inventories were around 328mb higher than the five-year average with crude and products showing a surplus of around 244mb and 84mb respectively. In days of forward cover OECD commercial stocks stood at 65.3 days in January.
The Peninsula