Dr Ibe Kachikwu, immediate-past President, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has projected that the demand for OPEC crude is expected to rise by 1.2 million barrels per day in 2016.
Mr Ohi Alegbe, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, said in a statement in Abuja on Saturday that Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum, made the projection to delegates in his address to the 168th (Ordinary) Meeting of the Conference of OPEC in Vienna, Austria.
He said the expected rise in demand would average 30.8 million barrels per day in 2016, leading to a more balanced market.
He added that in the years ahead, a balanced and stable market would be crucial to ensuring continued investments in the industry to meet the world’s growing energy needs.
According to the minister, the conference is focused on enhancing market stability which will be of benefit to all stakeholders and contribute to global economic growth.
Consequently dialogue and collaboration with consumers, non-OPEC producers, oil companies and investors are essential to attaining the common goal of a more orderly oil market.
“In 2015, we have seen positive examples between OPEC and non-OPEC countries, and the Asian ministerial energy roundtable held in Qatar in November.
“OPEC has also held bilateral dialogues with Russia and China this year, and later this month the OPEC-India energy dialogue would have its first meeting,’’ Kachikwu said.
World oil demand in 2015 grew by 1.5 million barrels per day, up from 1 million barrels per day in 2014.
“Next year, we foresee a growth of 1.3 million barrels per day to average 94.1 million barrels per day, with most of this growth coming from non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries,’’ the statement said.
It explained that as far as supply was concerned, non-OPEC countries would continue to see significantly reduced production growth as compared to past years.
“In fact, in 2016, we anticipate a contraction in non-OPEC oil supply,’’ it said further.
The statement added that the downward trend would stem mainly from the impact of investment cutbacks and the drop in U.S. tight oil output, which had been on the decline since May, 2015.
It said that was clearly illustrated by the drop in the number of newly drilled wells and the reduction by half of active drilling wells.
According to the statement, OPEC is committed to playing its part in protecting the environment and supporting sustainable development.
The statement added that its member countries are taking part in the climate change negotiations in Paris.
Member countries are committed to the goal of full, effective and sustained implementation of the UN Framework Convention on climate change.
-Vanguard
