The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the re-opening of China's economy should contribute to an increase in oil demand in 2023 due to the growth of air traffic.
According to the forecasts of the IEA, in 2023 the demand for oil will grow to a record high level and will amount to 101.9 million barrels per day (previous forecast: 101.7 million barrels). This forecast assumes that demand will grow by 2 million barrels per day this year, mainly due to Asian countries (+1.4 million barrels per day). The IEA also expects that the demand for oil from China will grow by 900 thousand barrels per day.
"After the easing of coronavirus restrictions, China intends to once again become a key factor in the growth of global oil demand," the IEA said.
As for the demand for aviation fuel worldwide, the IEA predicts its increase by 1.1 million barrels per day, to 7.2 million barrels per day, which is about 90% of global demand before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, amid rising demand for oil from Asian countries, the IEA expects the oil market to return to deficit in the second half of 2023. Oil demand is expected to exceed supply by 1.4 million barrels per day in the third quarter (previous forecast: 1.6 million barrels per day) and increase to 1.9 million barrels per day (previous forecast: 2.1 million barrels per day) in the fourth quarter. The improvement in the forecast was due to the fact that oil production in Russia remains surprisingly resistant to Western sanctions.