OPEC reinforced its prediction that global oil consumption will keep increasing to the middle of the century.
The organization has published its annual World Oil Outlook at its 9th International Seminar that was hosted in its Viennese headquarter from July 9-10, Caliber.Az reports.
According to their predictions, demand will grow by roughly 19% to reach almost 123 million barrels a day by 2050. This figure exceeds the organization's September forecast by about 3 million a day, with India poised to lead this expansion.
“The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will impact climate change negotiations and would most likely result in higher demand for hydrocarbons in general, and oil and gas in particular," OPEC said in its annual report, noting that US President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate accord is supporting this outlook.
However, this view put forward by the organization that brings together petroleum exporting countries is not unanimously supported by other players in the industry.
According to an article by Bloomberg, BP Plc, Bank of America Corp., the International Energy Agency and Wood Mackenzie are among many forecasters who believe demand will stop growing at some point in the next decade as top consumer China shows signs of peaking.
Critics questioning the accuracy of OPEC's predictions recall that the agency has provided wrong forecasts in the past, such as its outlook for 2024 that was more bullish than the wider industry. The organization was forced to correct decrease by 32% over the course of six consecutive monthly downgrades.
Scientists meanwhile warn that the uninhibited burning of fossil fuels envisioned by OPEC would trigger an environmental catastrophe.
The article points out, however, that oil use has surpassed expectations in recent years as the "green energy transition" has been facing multiple rocks along the road.
"OPEC — led by Saudi Arabia — has shown it’s willing to defy consensus, boosting crude production in the past few months despite widespread predictions that demand won’t be strong enough to absorb it," Bloomberg reports.
By Nazrin Sadigova
Source: caliber.az
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