US oil boom to extend into 2015

Global oil demand growth will accelerate in 2015 as the world economy expands and will again be met by rising supplies from the United States and Canada, further eroding OPEC’s market share, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

IEA in its monthly report that risks to oil production in several regions remained acute. “Supply risks in the Middle East and North Africa, not least in Iraq and Libya, remain extraordinarily high,” the IEA said. “Oil prices remain historically high and there is no sign of a turning of the tide just yet.”

North Sea Brent crude oil hit a nine-month high above $115 a barrel in June as a Sunni Islamist insurgency swept across northwestern Iraq, taking control of large parts of the oil producing country and shutting down its largest refinery. The oil market has weakened over the last month but remains nervous about further supply shocks. 

Making its first forecasts for 2015 in a monthly report, the IEA which advises major consuming nations on energy policy, said it expected global oil demand to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) next year, up from 1.2 million this year. The world’s second largest oil consumer, China, will see oil demand growing by 4.2 percent, up from 3.3 percent this year, while the largest oil user, the United States, will only see gains of 0.2 percent to 19.1 million barrels per day, up from a growth of 0.6 percent this year.