Zarin Shuba Rumman

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday that the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 will slow the recovery of global oil demand, but the market will be “more comfortable” next year. Since its inception in 1983, the IEA's Oil Market Report (OMR) has become recognised as one of the world’s most authoritative and timely sources of data, forecasts and analysis on the global oil market. The OMR is closely followed by government officials and policy makers, oil market participants and others. The oil market “seems to be on a better foundation than for some time,” the IEA wrote in its latest monthly report. The advent of Omicron at the end of last month “caused a plunge in oil, but the first pessimism has now replaced a more measured reaction.” The agency also predicts that global oil demand will increase by 5.4 million barrels / day this year and 3.3 million barrels / day next year, returning to pre-pandemic levels of 99.5 million barrels / day. On the production side, the IEA predicts that global oil production is poised to outpace demand from this month. This is due to increased production in the United States and other countries.