International Energy Agency oil demand forecast up 900,000 barrels per day for 2022

Global oil demand is estimated to reach 100.6 million bpd, increasing by 3.2 million bpd in the 2022 year on year

The International Energy Agency (IEA) revised up its global oil demand estimates for 2022 by around 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to last month's assessment, Qazet.az reports citing monthly report of IEA.

Global oil demand is estimated to reach 100.6 million bpd, increasing by 3.2 million bpd in the 2022 year on year, according to the IEA's latest oil market report on Friday.

"The milder-than-expected negative impact of the Omicron variant on demand has been largely offset by additional consumption stemming from a cold snap in the US and a continued switch to oil from gas in some industrial sectors," the agency explained.

It noted that the absolute level of demand increased significantly from last month’s report, due to changes to the IEA's baseline estimates for Saudi Arabia and China, which have been revised higher on new and more complete data.

World oil demand in 2019 is now estimated at 100.3 million bpd, an upward revision of 770,000 bpd relative to the IEA's previous data.

The agency projects that the fast spread of the omicron variant and accelerated vaccination programs are expected to increase population immunity by the end of the first quarter, while restrictions to mobility are anticipated to be more limited in the second half of the year, supporting a strong recovery in transportation demand.

The growth this year will be driven by the Asia Pacific region with 37.5 million bpd of demand, followed by the Americas with 31.03 million bpd and Europe with 14.4 million bpd.