OPEC comments in its monthly report on the oil market

  • Ongoing global trade tensions have resulted in weaker growth in global oil demand
  • Observed slowdown in the global economy in 1H will be further challenged in 2H
  • Revises down Q1 oil demand growth to 900k bpd
  • Other forecasts in 2019 mostly unchanged
  • Sees that world demand will rise by 1.14 mil bpd in 2019, down from 1.21 mil bpd

Well, despite sanctions on the likes of Iran and Venezuela, there hasn't been a significant slowdown in inventories and the oversupply issue continues to be a plague for oil prices recently. The fact that OPEC acknowledges that now won't be enough to keep prices soaring in the big picture, I reckon more cuts on top of the current deal is needed to appease markets at this point.