The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) indicated that global oil demand will recover in 2021 at a slower pace than previously thought, due to the continuing impact of the Coronavirus pandemic that impeded the efforts of the organization and its allies to support the market.

OPEC added in its latest monthly report that demand will rise by 6 million barrels per day next year to nearly 96 million barrels per day. These expectations for growth are about 350 thousand barrels per day less than what was expected a month ago. In general, the past few months have seen OPEC steadily lower its forecast for oil demand growth in 2021.

The prospects for a slower demand recovery have prompted the OPEC group and its allies (a group known as OPEC +) to slow the pace of the increase in oil production scheduled for 2021.

It is worth noting that oil prices have crossed the barrier of $ 50 a barrel, the highest level since March 2020, supported by hopes that the introduction of “Covid-19” vaccines will lead to an increase in demand, despite the continuation of general isolation measures in major European countries.

OPEC sources say that while economic growth is expected to slow in the fourth quarter with the re-application of lockdown measures and the possibility of extending some of these measures to 2021,but the vaccine developments had a positive impact on the outlook.