- Write by:
-
Thursday, July 12, 2018 - 3:31:51 PM
-
718 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro- The world`s oil supply cushion could be stretched to the limit due to prolonged outages, supporting prices and threatening demand growth, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.
The expected drop in Iranian crude exports this year due to renewed US sanctions, coupled with a decline in Venezuela`s production and outages in Libya, Canada and the North Sea have driven oil prices to their highest since 2014 in recent weeks.
OPEC and other key producers including Russia responded to the tightness by easing a supply-cut agreement, with Saudi Arabia vowing to support the market as US President Donald Trump accused the group of pushing prices higher.
The Paris-based IEA said in its monthly Oil Markets Report that there were already "very welcome" signs that output from leading producers had been boosted and may reach a record.
The global energy watchdog however said the disruptions underscored the pressure on global supplies as the world`s spare production capacity cushion "might be stretched to the limit".
Spare capacity refers to a producer`s ability to ramp up production in a relatively short time. Much of it is located in the Middle East.
The IEA said OPEC crude production in June reached a four-month high of 31.87-million barrels a day. Spare capacity in the Middle East in July was 1.6-million barrels a day, roughly 2 percent of global output.
Non-OPEC production including from surging US shale also continued to rise, but the IEA said that might not be enough to assuage concerns.
This vulnerability currently underpins oil prices and seems likely to continue doing so. We see no sign of higher production from elsewhere that might ease fears of market tightness," it said.
The IEA maintained its 2018 oil demand growth forecast at 1.4-million barrels a day, but warned that higher prices could dampen consumption.
Higher prices are prolonging the fears of consumers everywhere that their economies will be damaged. In turn, this could have a marked impact on oil demand growth."
China and India, the world`s second and third largest oil consumers, could face "major challenges" in finding alternative crude oil following the drop in Iranian and Venezuelan exports, the IEA said.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/211828
The United States is looking to Africa to help loosen a Chinese stranglehold on battery metals and reduce Russia’s ...
Democratic Republic of Congo and Chinese investors on Thursday signed an agreement reached in January that revises some ...
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. chief executive officer Lourenco Goncalves said he’d consider another bid — with union support — ...
Albemarle, the world’s largest producer of lithium for electric vehicle batteries, said on Wednesday that it will hold ...
Australia will provide up to A$840 million ($550 million) for the first combined rare earths mine and refinery in the ...
South African coal miner Exxaro Resources is considering potential deals to acquire copper and manganese assets as part ...
Antwerp’s diamond dealers face long and costly delays following an EU ban on Russian-origin diamonds that took effect on ...
A Polish coal mine near the Czech border will be able to continue operating for now, the state news agency PAP reported ...
Guinea’s junta named a new mines minister on Wednesday, state television said, citing a decree that showed the role was ...
No comments have been posted yet ...