IEA revises up oil demand forecasts for 2021, 2022

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has revised up global oil demand forecasts for 2021 and 2022, reported Xinhua.

The ongoing energy crisis has prompted a switch to oil, and therefore global oil demand is set to rise by 5.5 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2021 and 3.3 mb/d in 2022, IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report published Thursday.

Global oil demand is expected to reach 96.3 mb/d in 2021 and 99.6 mb/d in 2022, IEA's revised estimate shows.

Record coal and gas prices, as well as rolling black-outs are prompting the power sector and energy-intensive industries to turn to oil, which has pushed up global oil demand, the IEA explained.

As for world oil supply, the IEA projected a sharp rise in October, with the United States' output set to bounce back from Hurricane Ida, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) ready to boost output by 400,000 barrels per day for November this year.

Higher energy prices could lead to lower industrial activity and a slowdown in economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the IEA warned.