MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Energy noted a slowdown in oil demand growth, in 2019 it will increase by 1-1.1 mln barrels against 1.5 mln barrels in 2018, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the forum Russian Energy Week.
"We see that this year, compared to 2018, under the influence of various factors, oil demand will be significantly lower," he said, noting that the demand growth will amount to 1-1.1 mln barrels per day, while that last year, it amounted to 1.5 mln barrels per day.
Novak noted that the global economy "with growth in 2019 of around 3%, has affected the decline in oil demand." According to him, the slowdown in economic growth in the United States, the European Union, and China is "due to trade wars and the mutual introduction of duties on the import of goods."
"We see the main statistics that affects the indicators and prices in the market - these are oil reserves in the United States, although, of course, the United States is not the owner of the world's total reserves. Nevertheless, the market today looks at this indicator firstly, secondly - the OECD countries’ reserves (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - TASS), and thirdly, global reserves in general," Novak said.