Global oil supply hits post-pandemic high in July: Int. Energy Agency

By Firdevs Yuksel

ISTANBUL (AA) - Global oil supply in July increased to the highest level since January 2020 by 1.35 million barrels per day (bpd) to 100.5 million bpd, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly oil market report on Thursday.

According to the agency, the world oil supply reached a post-pandemic peak in July after the North Sea, Canada and Kazakhstan rebounded from scheduled upstream repairs and Saudi Arabia ramped up output in line with its OPEC+ pact, while Russian supply marginally edged up.

Daily crude oil production of the OPEC group rose to 29 million bpd in July, with an increase of about 210,000 bpd compared to the previous month.

During this period, OPEC natural gas liquids were recorded as 5.39 million bpd, increasing OPEC's total oil production to 34.39 million bpd last month.

Non-OPEC production saw a jump of around 1.11 million bpd to 66.11 million bpd in July.

"From July through December, production is forecast to grow by 1 million bpd to reach 101.6 million bpd. Supplies from OPEC+ are expected to rise by 400 thousand bpd over the period, with higher anticipated flows from Libya, Kazakhstan and Gulf producers offset by deepening losses in Russia. Producers outside the alliance (non-OPEC+) are set to add 640 thousand bpd, with the United States leading the gains," the report said.

The IEA revised up its global oil demand growth estimates by 380,000 bpd for 2022.

According to the agency, surging oil use for power generation and gas-to-oil switching in the wake of soaring European natural gas prices are lifting the growth trajectory for oil demand over the remainder of the year and into 2023.

"These extraordinary gains, overwhelmingly concentrated in the Middle East and Europe, mask relative weakness in other sectors, but will propel demand higher by 2.1 million bpd to 99.7 million bpd in 2022 and by a further 2.1 million bpd to 101.8 million bpd in 2023," the IEA said.