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Saudi Aramco's refusal to increase oil output capacity does not mean demand decline — OPEC

The OPEC Secretary General noted that with regard to oil demand, the organization believes in its stability and adheres to its latest forecast - in the January OPEC report, oil demand growth in 2024 was expected at 2.2 mln bpd

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The refusal of Saudi Aramco to increase oil production capacity does not indicate a decline in oil demand, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais told Reuters.

At the end of January, Saudi Aramco announced that the company had received an order from the Ministry of Energy to maintain maximum production capacity at 12 mln bpd. Prior to this, Saudi Aramco planned to increase oil production capacity to 13 mln bpd by 2027.

"First of all, I want to be clear I cannot comment on a Saudi decision ... but this is in no way to be misconstrued as a view that demand is falling," he said.

The OPEC Secretary General noted that with regard to oil demand, the organization believes in its stability and adheres to its latest forecast - in the January OPEC report, oil demand growth in 2024 was expected at 2.2 mln bpd.

Al Ghais also commented for the first time on Angola's withdrawal from OPEC, which the country announced in December 2023 due to disagreement with quotas under the OPEC+ deal. "It is not the first time a member exits the organization for its own considerations. We have had members leave and members join and we have had some that leave and rejoin so I'm not too concerned about that," he said.

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