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Oil pares losses on tight supply but cloudy demand caps gains

13 November 2024 10:32 (UTC +04:00)

Oil prices edged up on Wednesday on signs of near-term supply tightness but remained near their lowest in two weeks, a day after OPEC downgraded its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2024 and 2025, APA reports citing Reuters.

Brent futures rose 17 cents, or 0.24%, to $72.06 a barrel by 0420 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 14 cents, or 0.21%, at $68.26.

In its monthly report on Tuesday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said world oil demand would rise by 1.82 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, down from growth of 1.93 million bpd forecast last month, mostly due to weakness in China, the world's biggest oil importer.

Oil prices settled up 0.1% on Tuesday following the news, after falling by about 5% during the two previous sessions.

OPEC also cut its 2025 global demand growth estimate to 1.54 million bpd from 1.64 million bpd.

The International Energy Agency, which has a far lower view, is set to publish its updated forecast on Thursday.