OPEC forecasts 2.2% global oil demand growth in 2024

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday forecast the global oil demand to increase by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, an annual growth of 2.2 percent, as the expected "solid global economic growth amid continued improvements in China" will boost oil consumption, reported Xinhua.

In its monthly oil market report for July, OPEC said it expected global oil demand to reach 104.25 million bpd.

The organization slightly revised up its projection for this year's global oil demand growth from 2.35 million bpd to 2.44 million bpd, "mainly due to higher demand seen in China" in the second quarter of 2023. The world's total oil demand is projected to average 102 million bpd this year.

In the report, OPEC also predicted that the world economy will grow by 2.5 percent in 2024, saying "key oil-consuming countries, including China and India, along with some other developing economies in Asia, will continue their healthy growth levels and be responsible for around half of next year's global economic growth."

However, OPEC noted that the prediction is based on assumptions that general inflation continues to ease in the second half of 2023 and next year, and that key interest rates will peak by the end of this year.

The organization kept its forecast for this year's world economic growth unchanged at 2.6 percent.

OPEC expects China's economy to expand by 5.2 percent this year and by a further 4.8 percent in 2024.

Earlier this month, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais told Xinhua on the sidelines of the 8th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna that he was "very optimistic" about China's economic recovery and that he expected China to continue to be "a driver of oil demand growth."