Opec+ sees healthy growing global economy, despite inflation

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (Opec+) sees a healthy global economy growing, despite the broad challenges of inflation.

The United States is doing very well, although Europe is struggling, general secretary Haitham Al Ghais told the Argus European Crude Conference on Tuesday, noting that even Chinese annual growth is expected in the range of 4.5% to 5%.

While he said that has been slower than expected, "we still see a healthy global economy growing despite all the challenges and pressures".

He highlighted the opportunity for growth in the aviation sector. "In the airline sector there is still room for improvement, so we are quite positive on demand."

Opec+ has taken a proactive and a preventative approach to achieve a stable crude market, he added.

Opec+ remains positive on oil demand growth before meeting

OPEC+ still has a positive outlook for growth in oil demand, despite the headwinds faced by the global economy, as it prepares for its next ministerial meeting.

"The economy, despite the challenges, is still doing quite well," OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais said at the Argus European Crude Conference in London on Tuesday. "We are positive on demand, we're still quite robust on demand."

The top official at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said he couldn't preempt the outcome of the group's next ministerial meeting in the final weekend of November.

"All I can say for now is we continue to monitor supply and demand fundamentals on a daily basis," Al-Ghais said. "When the ministers meeting in Vienna at the end of this month they will review all of this and take appropriate measures."

The next OPEC+ meeting could see Russia and Saudi Arabia decide whether to continue their extra voluntary supply curbs into 2024. On Sunday, Riyadh and Moscow announced that they will both stick with output reductions totaling roughly 1.3 million barrels a day in December, rubber-stamping a plan outlined a couple of months ago. Those curbs are in addition to cuts agreed by the rest of the cartel, which last until the end of next year.

"I think the US economy is doing very well. Europe may be struggling a bit," Al-Ghais said. "We're still talking about the Chinese economy growing by over 4.5% to 5%" and overall global oil demand continues to rise significantly, he said.