OPEC remain positive on 2021 oil demand growth

Oil

Despite the rise of the COVID-19 Delta variant, OPEC still expect oil demand to grow 5.95M b/d y-o-y in 2021 to 96.57M b/d (up 6.6%), according to their latest monthly report. OPEC believe oil demand will make light of the latest variant and continue to grow strongly, Reuters reported. The group also expect non-OPEC production to rise 2.9M b/d y-o-y in 2022, up from 2.1M b/d in the previous report, due to OPEC+ committing to increase production and higher oil prices. The increase is expected to be driven by US shale oil production, which is forecast to rise by 560K b/d in 2022, owing to a rising rig count and increased fracking of wells.