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(OPEC): Oil prices rose by $20 a barrel in March due to the Ukraine war

14-04-2022

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Tuesday that crude oil prices, including OPEC crudes, rose by $20 a barrel last month and for the third month in a row, against the backdrop of escalating geopolitical tensions over Russia's war on Ukraine. The General Secretariat of the Organization added in its monthly report that the prices of oil futures contracts witnessed high fluctuations due to the uncertain expectations of supply and demand for oil in the short term, noting that the price of the (OPEC) reference basket increased by 19.53 dollars, or 20.8 percent, to settle at 113.48 dollars per barrel. On the global economic growth rate, the report stated that the rate declined in 2022 to 3.9 percent, after it was 4.2 percent in the assessment of the previous month, taking into account the impact of the conflict in Eastern Europe as well as the continuing effects of the epidemic, after a growth of 5.8 percent in 2021. He pointed out that the growth of global demand for oil for 2022 was adjusted by a decrease of half a million barrels per day to stand at 3.7 million barrels per day, which mostly reflects the downward adjustment in global economic growth. The report expected oil demand growth to reach 1.9 million barrels per day in OECD countries and 1.8 million barrels per day in non-OECD countries. The report pointed out that the (OPEC) production increased last March to an average of 28.56 million barrels per day, according to available secondary sources. The production rates of (OPEC) in 2022 were also modified by a decrease of 100,000 barrels per day compared to the assessment of the previous month, to stand at 29.0 million barrels per day, which is higher by about 0.8 million barrels per day compared to 2021.