The course of 2024 has seen repeated downgrades to global oil demand forecasts, driven by weakness in China, the country that has been central to global oil demand growth for well over a decade.
The IEA, in its latest monthly Oil Market Report on 12 December, again revises down 2024 Chinese demand growth to just 140,000 b/d. A year ago the forecast was 720,000 b/d. The US government’s EIA now forecasts growth of just 87,000 b/d, whilst Opec, which has been very slow to acknowledge that global oil demand is growing more slowly than it would have liked (MEES, 13 December), now forecasts 430,000 b/d 2024 China demand growth. (CONTINUED - 1573 WORDS)
