Demand for OPEC-Produced Oil to Top Supply in 2017 With 32.6Mln Barrels Daily

Demand for oil produced by member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to outdrive the agreed 2017 oil output production cut to 32.5 million barrels daily by 100,000 barrels, which will help speed up market rebalancing by the end of next year, the cartel said in its monthly report on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Saturday, OPEC and 11 non-OPEC countries struck a historic deal for the latter to reduce oil output by 600,000 barrels per day in the wake of the November 30 OPEC agreement in Vienna to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day.

The summary cut amounts to some 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017. The deal finalized a preliminary agreement reached in Algeria in September. The 11 non-cartel states which agreed to the deal included Russia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Sudan and South Sudan.

"The demand for OPEC crude in 2017 is expected to stand at 32.6 mb/d, which is slightly higher than the 32.5 mb/d level referred to in the most recent OPEC Ministerial Conference. This, combined with the joint cooperation with a number of non-OPEC countries in adjusting production by around 0.6 mb/d, will accelerate the reduction of global inventories and bring forward the rebalancing of the oil market to the second half of 2017," the December report reads.