Saudi Aramco sees oil demand picking up on China and aviation recovery

Saudi Aramco sees oil demand picking up on China and aviation recovery

The world’s biggest oil company is confident demand will pick up strongly this year as China reopens its economy and the aviation market recovers.

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“We are very optimistic in terms of demand coming back to the market,” Saudi Aramco’s chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, said in an interview. “We are starting to see good signs coming out of China. Hopefully, in the next couple of months, we’ll see more of a pickup in the economy there.”

Demand for jet fuel is now around 1 million barrels a day below pre-pandemic levels, according to Nasser, roughly half the figure from a year ago. “It’s picking up, he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.”

Oil prices whipsawed in 2022. Brent crude surged to almost $130 a barrel in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but slumped in recent months as the Chinese, US and European economies slowed. It’s trading at about $86.80 a barrel, up 1 percent since the end of December.

Many Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., expect it to climb above $100 a barrel in the second half of the year. They cite a global