With the IEA seeing petrochemicals as the key driver of global oil demand growth for the remainder of the decade, demand is set to increasingly tilt towards lighter barrels. This goes hand-in-hand with an expected boom in output of NGLs. “The rise of petrochemicals as the main pillar of global demand growth largely tracks the substantial increase in global supply of NGLs, which are instrumental in their production,” says the IEA’s Oil 2024 report.

Global oil supply capacity will rise by 6mn b/d to 113.8mn b/d by 2030 according to the IEA’s contentious forecasts (MEES, 14 June), with NGLs and condensate accounting for 45% of the growth, some 2.7mn b/d. Within this, Saudi Arabia and the US are expected to account for approximately two thirds of the net-2.7mn b/d increase, or around 1.78mn b/d. (CONTINUED - 1048 WORDS)