Global demand has been significantly higher than the IEA originally believed, the group acknowledged in its February Oil Market Report (OMR) as it unveiled huge current and historic demand revisions. Oil markets are therefore much tighter than the IEA had previously assessed, although its estimates still point to modest oversupply this quarter despite Opec+ struggling to increase production.
The market tightness is being exacerbated by the widening discrepancy between the Opec+ group’s monthly tapering of production cuts and its actual production increases. The gap between the production ceiling and output is widening and IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told the IEA-IEF-Opec Symposium on Energy Outlooks on 16 February that it is approaching 1mn b/d as he urged the alliance to boost output. (CONTINUED - 814 WORDS)
