OPEC Sees Less Demand for its Oil to 2018 Amid Shale Boom
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OPEC acknowledged it underestimated the significance of the North American energy boom as it tripled estimates for shale oil produced there and predicted a decline in demand for its own crude through to 2018.
The need for crude from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will fall by 1.1 million barrels a day to 29.2 million barrels a day between 2013 and 2018, the Vienna-based group said today in its annual World Oil Outlook. Oil production from shale formations in the U.S. and Canada is seen climbing to 4.9 million barrels a day in 2018, compared with an estimate of 1.7 million barrels a day in last year’s report.