OPEC+ JTC Raises 2022 Oil Market Surplus Forecast

OPEC+ JTC Raises 2022 Oil Market Surplus Forecast

The oil market is likely to have a surplus greater than forecast earlier this year amid pressures from rising energy costs and tightening monetary policy that decreased demand for oil, OPEC + said in a report on Wednesday.

The report comes days ahead of an OPEC+ policy meeting on Sept. 5 and over a week after OPEC leader Saudi Arabia said the group may cut oil output.

The Joint Technical Committee (JTC), which met on Wednesday, advises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, collectively known as the OPEC+ group of oil-producing nations, on market fundamentals.

Last week, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC stands ready to cut output to correct a recent oil price decline driven by poor futures market liquidity and macro-economic fears, which has ignored extremely tight physical crude supply.

Oil prices have been extremely volatile in recent weeks. While Prince Abdulaziz’s comments helped propel prices to a one-month high above $105 a barrel on Monday, Brent crude on Wednesday traded $10 a barrel below those levels, on expectations for lower demand.

At its last meeting, OPEC+ agreed to raise production targets by 100,000 bpd for September, having unwound record cuts of about 10