Crude oil demand will not recover until July —OPEC

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said there will not be a rebound in the global demand for crude until the second half of 2020.

OPEC anticipates that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger a steep fall in demand by more than six million barrels per day in the first six months of this year.

Mohammad Barkindo, OPEC’s Secretary General, in his virtual address of ministers and governors of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty Four (G-24), a printed copy of which was made available in Abuja on Thursday.

“World oil demand in 2019 grew by a lower-than-expected 0.83 mb/d. Both the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and non-OECD regions saw weaker year-on-year growth.

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“This was due to softer economic growth in 1H19 (first half of 2019), as well as warmer weather in the Northern Hemisphere in 4Q19 (fourth quarter 2019),” Mr Barkindo said.

Barkindo further stated that contrary to earlier foreast, global oil demand this year had now been projected to plunge by as much as 6.8 million bpd year on year because of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its implications for transportation and industrial fuels.

“Oil demand is expected to suffer the most in the first half of the year and to recover somewhat in the second half of 2020.”

According to him, the world economy and, by extension, the oil market were encountering one of the worst crises in recent history contrary to the expected improvement in activity in 2020.

Oil prices lost around two-third of their value in Q1 2020, Barkindo added.

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