OPEC on Wednesday predicted that global oil demand for crude from the broader OPEC+ producer group will fall by 400,000 barrels per day in the first three months of this year to the second quarter, a copy of the monthly oil report on OPEC’s website showed.
OPEC said in a report that global demand for OPEC+ crude oil averaged 42.2 million barrels per day in the second quarter, down from 42.6 million barrels per day in the first quarter. Both forecasts were unchanged from last month’s report.
The OPEC+ group, which includes OPEC members and allies such as Russia, began increasing production last year after years of production cuts, and suspended production increases in the first quarter of 2026 amid expectations of oversupply. The eight OPEC+ members are scheduled to meet on March 1 to decide whether to resume rate hikes in April. In its report, OPEC also maintained its forecast that global oil demand will increase by 1.34 million barrels per day in 2027 and by 1.38 million barrels per day this year. The 2026 forecast is higher than that of other analysts, such as the International Energy Agency.
OPEC+ delivered 42.45 million barrels per day in January 2026, down 439,000 barrels per day from December 2025, due to production cuts in Kazakhstan, Russia, Venezuela and Iran, it said in a report.
(Reporting by Alex Lawler; Editing by Mark Potter)
