OPEC: Oil demand next year will be lowest in a decade
OPEC cut its forecast for global demand Wednesday, expecting that demand in 2015 will be at the lowest level since 2004.
Reuters reports that the cartel, in its monthly report, said it expects worldwide demand for its oil to be 28.92 million barrels per day, about 1 million bpd less than the 12-nation group is producing now.
Last month OPEC’s decision to keep output the same — about 30 million bpd — sent prices falling even more precipitously. Brent crude is down about 40 percent overall since June, when it was about $110 a barrel.
If the cartel produces 28.92 bpd next year, that’ll be its lowest output since it produced 28.15 million bpd in 2004.
Saudi Arabia, the cartel’s largest producer, gave no sign it’s willing to cut production levels to try to prop up the price. As Bloomberg reports:
“Why should I cut production?” [Saudi oil minister] Ali Al-Naimi said in response to reporters’ questions today in Lima, where he’s attending United Nations climate talks. “This is a market and I’m selling in a market. Why should I cut?”
