Global oil demand is currently anticipated to expand by 1.2mn bpd this year, the same level as expected in June, said HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, also President of the Opec Conference.  
“We estimate a similar level of demand growth in 2017; demand remains robust,” he said at the Opec Consultative Ministerial Meeting in Algiers on Wednesday.
With regard to global economic growth, al-Sada said, “The story was somewhat inconsistent and changeable” back in June and it remains so today.  
“Our global growth estimate for 2016 has fallen from 3.1% in June to 2.9% today, although for 2017, this is expected to increase to 3.1%,” al-Sada said.
On the supply side, in June it was anticipated that non-Opec supply would decline by 740,000 bpd in 2016.  In the interim, the expected decline has lessened to a contraction of 600,000 bpd.  
“Moreover, we also now anticipate non-Opec supply to grow by 200,000 bpd in 2017, against a decline of 100,000 bpd when this estimate was first announced in July,” al-Sada said.
And from the perspective of stocks, OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and non-OECD inventories are still very high.  “In fact, OECD commercial oil stocks are currently little different to the numbers we saw presented in June, at around 340mn barrels above their five-year average. What this underscores is that there are many uncertainties and the pace of the market readjustment is taking longer than expected.  Back in June, the prospects suggested that the market would rebalance by the end of this year or in the first half of 2017,” he said.  
However, the minister noted there are now serious questions being asked regarding this timeframe, with many agencies and analysts pushing the rebalancing further into the future.
“The market has changed since June and our expectations about the rebalancing process have shifted.  It is evident that there is now a greater degree of urgency about ensuring the market returns to balance as quickly as possible.
“The last few weeks have seen much talk about how this could be best achieved.  I believe there is a common understanding that we need to look at market stabilisation measures aimed at reducing the length of the downturn and lessening volatility,” al-Sada said.