OPEC's Barkindo: Global oil demand growth has been robust

Key highlights from the speech delivered by HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary General, at the Oil & Money conference, London, England.

The global economic recovery has gathered momentum this year.  

Correspondingly, global oil demand growth has also been robust and there are signs of a strengthening trend.

In our December 2016 MOMR, we saw global oil demand growth for 2017 at a level of 1.15 mb/d.  This has been revised up considerably to now stand at 1.5 mb/d.

For 2018, this encouraging dynamic is set to continue with a forecast of 1.4 mb/d.

In our upcoming World Oil Outlook 2017, to be launched on November 7 in Vienna, we expect demand to pass 100 mb/d in 2020 and to reach over 111 mb/d by 2040.

Investments are expected to pick up slightly this year and in 2018.

However, this is not anywhere close to past levels and it is more evident in short-cycle, rather than long-cycle projects, which are the industry’s baseload.