IEA foresees further slowdown in oil demand growth in 2024

Oil barrels

Global oil demand growth is losing momentum as the annual pace of expansion decelerated to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in Q4 2023, from 2.8 million bpd in the previous quarter, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report issued today, Feb. 15.

The growth pace is expected to slow further and reach 1.2 million bpd in 2024, compared to 2.3 million bpd in the year before, the agency added.

This ought in part to the steep drop in Chinese consumption, which contributed to a pullback in total global oil demand by 830,000 bpd to 102.1 million bpd in the last quarter of 2023. However, oil demand in China, India and Brazil is seen to continue to support global demand in 2024, it further stated.

According to the IEA, global oil supply recorded a sharp monthly decline of 1.4 million bpd in January, hurt by the cold wave coming from the Arctic disrupted production in North America, paired with the OPEC+ deepening production cuts.

The report also highlighted that global oil stocks fell by about 60 million barrels in January, versus 21.6 million barrels in December 2023.

Given the escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the disruption of production in North America, futures prices for standard Brent crude rose by $5 in January, hitting their first monthly increase since September 2023, it pointed out.