Demand growth now the focus for oil market

Surging supply threatens to overwhelm balances, unless consumers come to the rescue

The supply side is responding to the recent price rally—and the answer is startling: much more oil is to come. If the market rebalancing is to avoid a reversal through 2018, demand needs to pick up the slack. A buoyant global economy gives it a chance. Oil-price direction for the rest of the year now depends on consumers. Supply looms over oil futures. US production growth this year and next will be much greater than the bulls expected (and even steeper than many bears thought likely), if the Energy Information Administration's most recent forecast comes good. It expects American crude oil output will average 10.6m barrels a day in 2018, a rise of 1.3m b/d from last year, and jump again to 1