Oil market rediscovered its optimism, confidence: Barkindo
By Trend
The oil market has now rediscovered its optimism and confidence – others have even remarked that it has finally found its compass, said Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary General, at the 8th IEA-IEF-OPEC Symposium on Energy Outlooks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He recalled that in December 2017, the 24 participating countries achieved an extraordinary conformity level of 129 percent, the highest since the start of the Declaration of Cooperation.
“Monthly levels rose steadily throughout last year, from 87
percent in January to December’s record level, with an overall
yearly average of 107 percent. The preliminary data for January
seems to point to another record-breaking level of conformity,”
added Barkindo.
Moreover, he pointed out that throughout 2017, the global economic
recovery gathered momentum, with expected economic growth for the
year improving from an estimated 3.2 percent at last year’s
Symposium to 3.8 percent today.
“This positive trend is expected to be maintained in 2018, with
growth also estimated at 3.8 percent,” OPEC secretary general
believes.
Correspondingly, global oil demand growth also picked up during the
year, rising from an estimated 1.3 million barrels per day at last
year’s Symposium for 2017, to the present level of 1.6 million
barrels per day, said Barkindo, adding that the same healthy level
is expected in 2018.
“I should stress here that we will continue to look through the
dynamics of markets such as that which we experienced last week.
The solid overall market fundamentals remain as strong as the rock
of Gibraltar,” he noted.
OPEC and several other non-OPEC producers have reached an agreement to extend the production deal for a further nine months. This would shift the expiration date of the agreement from March to the end of 2018. The agreement is on the same terms as those agreed in November 2016.
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