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OPEC on Thursday maintained an upbeat world oil demand outlook despite economic headwinds, raising its growth forecast for 2023 and predicting only a slight slowdown in 2024 as China and India continue to drive the expansion in fuel use.
In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it expects world oil demand to rise by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, compared with growth of 2.44 million bpd in 2023.
It raised its 2023 demand growth forecast by 90,000 bpd from last month's report.
Oil demand growth is an indication of likely oil market strength and forms part of the backdrop for policy decisions by OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+. The group in June extended supply curbs into 2024 to support the market.
"In 2024, solid global economic growth amid continued improvements in China is expected to boost consumption of oil," OPEC said in the report.
OPEC said that OPEC+'s pre-emptive approach and output curbs had "added a considerable measure of stability to (the) global oil market, based on which the solid oil market fundamentals seen this year are expected to extend into 2024".
The report also showed OPEC's oil production rose by 91,000 bpd to 28.19 million bpd in June, led by Iran and Iraq, despite output cuts pledged by OPEC+.
