According to the agency, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE pumped at record monthly rates to keep output over 1 mb/d above OPEC’s official supply target for a third month running. Oil ministers agreed to maintain that target at their 5 June meeting.
It added that the estimate of global demand growth has been revised up to 1.7 mbpd for 1Q15 and 1.4 mbpd for 2015 as a whole. Momentum is expected to ease somewhat in 2H15, assuming a return to normal weather conditions and given a recent partial recovery in oil prices.
IEA said that global refinery crude runs reached an estimated 77.9 mb/d in April, 0.3 mb/d lower than March, and 1.7 mbpd above a year earlier. Delayed new capacity of 1.5 mb/d in non-OECD regions has lifted product cracks and OECD refining utilisation rates, and caused backwardation to re-appear in oil products markets.
It said that OECD industry oil stocks built by a steep 38.0 mb in April, to stand 147 mb above average levels, as refined-product stocks moved to their widest surplus in over four years. Preliminary data indicate that OECD inventories added a further 12.6 mb in May although US crude stocks posted their first draw in nine months.
Analyzing further, the global energy watch dog stated: “Short-term imbalances in the global refining industry appear to be supporting oil prices – whether directly for products or more indirectly for crude – in the face of a lingering supply overhang, the latest available data suggest.
