According to their forecasts, output in China, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, would reach an average of 4.05 million barrels a day in 2016, nearly 253,000 barrels more than in 2015.
The output of PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil and gas company, is expected to decline in 2016 by 4.9 percent, to 924.7 million barrels a day. CNOOC Ltd. is also expected to decrease output this year – by 5.2 percent, to 470 million barrels a day. In January, Sinopec announced the first drop in oil and gas output in 16 years.
"High costs, reduced capex and mounting decline rates in the mature fields that have supported China’s domestic output for decades have combined to pull output down," the report by Standard Chartered read.
Furthermore, output figures are changing in the US. For example, over the past 14 weeks oil output in the US has dropped to 8.9 million barrels a day. In April, the outlook for the US in 2016 was downgraded to 8.6 million barrels a day.
This rebalance may finally result in driving global oil prices up, from the current level of around $45 a barrel. Earlier, Standard Chartered analysts wrote that Brent crude prices may reach $70-75 a barrel by the end of 2016.