OPEC on Monday lowered its forecast for world oil demand in the second quarter by 500,000 barrels per day, citing the impact of the war in the Middle East, the producer group’s monthly oil report showed on its website.
Global oil demand is projected to average 105.07 million bpd in the second quarter, OPEC’s report said, down from the 105.57 million bpd forecast in last month’s report.
“The demand growth for the second quarter of 2026 is revised down for both the OECD and non-OECD, driven mainly by slight transitory weakness in oil demand growth, given ongoing developments in the Middle East,” OPEC said.
However, this weakness is expected to be offset in the second half of the year, it added.
OPEC also said that for the full year, global demand growth is unchanged from its previous estimate.
(Reporting by writing by Alex Lawler; Editing by Joe Bavier and David Goodman)