OPEC and its allies appear to have accomplished their mission of bringing global oil stocks to desired levels as early as in May, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report .
"It is not for us to declare on behalf of the Vienna agreement countries that it is ‘mission accomplished’, but if our outlook is accurate, it certainly looks very much like it," the IEA said.
OPEC said in its monthly report today that oil stocks in the developed world were only 43 million barrels above the latest five-year average. The IEA put the figure at just 30 million barrels as of the end of February.
The IEA said that even though non-OPEC output was set to soar by 1.8 million barrels per day this year on higher U.S. production, it was not enough to meet global demand, expected to rise by 1.5 million bpd or around 1.5%.
"Our balances show that if OPEC production were constant this year, and if our outlooks for non-OPEC production and oil demand remain unchanged, in 2Q18-4Q18 global stocks could draw by about 0.6 million bpd," Reuters cited the IEA as saying.
