By Teddy Nwanunobi
The Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), on Monday, said it has revised its global economic growth forecast for 2021 up by 0.1 production parity (PP) to reach 5.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y).
OPEC’s Secretary General, HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, who made this known in his opening remarks for the 52nd meeting of the Joint Technical Committee (JTC), attributed it to the vaccination campaigns in certain regions.
“In terms of the oil market, a few developments are noteworthy. Largely, as a result of the progress of the vaccination campaigns in certain regions, the Secretariat has now revised up our global economic growth forecast for 2021 by 0.1 pp to reach 5.5 per cent y-o-y. World oil demand is expected to increase by 6.0 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2021, unchanged from last month’s estimate, to average 96.5 mbpd. Non-OPEC liquids production for 2021 is revised down by 0.2 mbpd m-o-m, and is forecast to grow by 0.7 mbpd,” Barkindo said.
Barkindo, who spoke at a virtual meeting held in advance to the 30th Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the 17th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) scheduled for Tuesday, June 1, 2021, thanked the committee members for their tireless efforts in realising the committee’s objectives, highlighting that the JTC continues to play a vital role in the success of the landmark Declaration of Cooperation (DoC).
“There are many moving parts when it comes to factors affecting the global oil market, such as the pace of change during the (COVID-19) pandemic. Given the diverse range of uncertainties, it is a tremendous source of comfort to the market that the DoC partners continue to be such a reliable and dependable component contributing to oil market stability,” he said.
Commenting on the developments related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Barkindo stated that: “IR Iran is an extremely important and valued member of our Organisation”.
He noted that the Islamic Republic is one of OPEC’s five Founder Members.
“We anticipate that the expected return of Iranian production and exports to the global market will occur in an orderly and transparent fashion, thereby maintaining the relative stability that we have worked hard to achieve since April of last year,” he added.
Barkindo also emphasised the importance of investment for the future of oil, stating that it is ‘the lifeblood of this industry’.
He expressed optimism by quoting the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky: “The darker the night, the brighter the stars”.
The Ministerial Meetings of the DoC are supported by the JMMC, which is tasked to analyse oil market developments, monitor the conformity of the DoC voluntary production adjustments and recommend further decisions.
Valuechain reports that the JTC and the OPEC Secretariat provide the JMMC with technical support.