Russian Min says oil demand recovery slower than OPEC+ forecast

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (PRIME) -- The recovery of global oil demand is slower than OPEC plus deal members expected, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said after a meeting of the ministerial monitoring committee late on Monday.

"As you might remember, it fell by 20–25 million barrels per day, but after the quarantine measures introduced by the governments to fight the COVID were lifted, demand recovered at a dramatic pace," Novak said.

He added that demand at fuel stations has recovered to 80–100% of the pre-crisis level, depending on the country.

"Recovery has become slower, we used to expect a faster recovery pace but indeed the situation depends in many respects on what is happening to the economy, the global economy, what measures various countries take due to the COVID second wave," Novak said.

He told channel Rossiya 24 that at the meeting the members of the deal agreed to continue the reduction.

Novak said that the market deficit stands about 1 million barrels per day, and the situation has somewhat stabilized.

"This means that the reserves fall day by day and the situation is more or less stable. We see this from stable oil prices and demand-supply balance," Novak said.

He added that uncertainty would grow in winter because demand falls but registration of a third vaccine in Russia could help with oil market balancing.

According to Novak, the current oil prices are right for the market situation.

The OPEC plus issued a statement after the meeting, saying that the deal fulfillment level amounted to 102% in September and about 100% on average in five months of the new deal. Novak said that Russia fulfilled the deal close to 100%, as always. Bloomberg reported that the output cut plan changes were not discussed.

The next meeting of the monitoring committee will be held on November 17.

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