Brent crude oil barrel falls to December 2021 low after OPEC cuts 2024 crude demand forecast.
The barrel of oil BrentEuropean benchmark, fell 4% on Tuesday afternoon and was traded below 70 dollarsunprecedented lows since December 2021 and before the appearance of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, after OPEC again reduced demand for crude oil by 2024.
A barrel of Brent crude had been quoted for most of the session at around $72, but when the OPEC report The commodity collapsed and when European stock markets closed it was trading at $68.96, 4% less than the day before.
Since the beginning of the year, “black gold” has been accumulating a depreciation of more than 10%.
To go into details, it was published this Tuesday that the growth of global demand for crude oil in 2024 be a little less vigorous than expected by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which revised downwards by 80,000 barrels per day its forecast for an increase in global consumption for the year as a whole.
According to the monthly bulletin, global oil demand in 2024 will reach 104.24 million barrels per day (mb/d)which represents an increase of 2.03 mb/d compared to consumption corresponding to 2023, but implies an adjustment of 80,000 barrels per day less compared to the previous forecast.
“This slight revision […] “This mainly reflects actual data received during the year,” OPEC said, although it considers China's future economic performance to be “well supported.”
Furthermore, For 2025, OPEC has also slightly revised its forecast downwards. growth in global oil demand. Thus, the cartel expects global crude oil consumption next year to be 105.99 mb/d, an annual increase of 1.74 mb/d compared to the previous projection of 1.78 mb/d.
Brent crude oil has thus returned to levels not seen since December 2021, while the raw material was already on an upward trajectory thanks to post covid recoverya situation that has more than intensified and led to a global energy crisis due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, when, in March 2022, the barrel reached a record level of 128 dollars.
On the other hand, the situation can also be extrapolated to Texas WTI Barrelwhich fell 4.5% this afternoon and was trading at $65.6, the lowest since June 2023.