Opposing forces will affect oil market balance
Sluggish demand growth may be matched by an almost as equally anaemic lift in output
The oil market in 2020 will, in our view, be dominated by three key themes—the global economic slowdown, the ongoing drop in momentum in the US shale industry, and the sticky non-Opec production growth. These are opposing forces with material impact on the oil market balance for 2020. Oil demand worries are not going away. The global economic slowdown combined with the US-China tariff war clearly hit oil demand growth. In light of this, we expect oil demand to grow by 0.8mn bl/d year-on-year in 2019, compared to 5-year average growth of 1.5mn bl/d year-on-year. The growth rate is almost halved, demonstrating the impact of the economic slowdown. Our expectation is that the global economic s

Also in this section
11 August 2025
The administration is pushing for deregulation and streamline permitting for natural gas, while tightening requirements and stripping away subsidies from renewables
8 August 2025
The producers’ group missed its output increase target for the month and may soon face a critical test of its strategy
7 August 2025
The quick, unified and decisive strategy to return all the barrels from the hefty tranche of cuts from the eight producers involved in voluntary curbs signals a shift and sets the tone for the path ahead
7 August 2025
Without US backing, the EU’s newest sanctions package against Russia—though not painless—is unlikely to have a significant impact on the country’s oil and gas revenues or its broader economy