Opec cuts oil demand forecasts as economic growth

Global oil supplies are slowly catching up with flagging demand for crude, leaving the oil market close to balanced, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) said, suggesting the cartel sees little need in the short term to increase its output further.

The Vienna-based producers' group cut its forecasts for global oil demand this year by 260,000 barrels to 100.03 million barrels a day, citing the impact of slowing global economies. It also cut its demand forecasts for 2023 by the same amount to 102.72 million barrels a day. Global economic growth will be weaker than expected both this year and next, as inflation weighs on businesses and consumers and central banks raise interest to cool rising prices, Opec said in its monthly market report released Thursday.

Opec lowered its global gross domestic product forecasts for 2022 to 3.1 per cent from the 3.5 per cent growth it expected last month. For the US economy, Opec cut its growth forecasts to 1.8 per cent this year from 3 per cent and to 1.7 per cent in 2023 from last month's 2.1 per cent forecast.