In the wake of continuing economic uncertainty in China, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reduced its forecast for 2024’s global oil demand growth, while also lowering its projection for 2025.

Global oil demand will rise by 1.93 million barrels per day (mbbl/d) this year, down from fractionally over 2mbbl/d reported several weeks ago, said various media outlets, citing the oil body’s monthly report.

The bulk of the downgrade for this year was attributed to China, as OPEC trimmed its growth forecast for the Asian nation to 580,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 650,000bpd earlier in the year.  

OPEC said overall oil demand is facing headwinds as economic slowdowns appear in many industrialised nations and renewable energy becomes more mainstream.

Meanwhile, in September, Russia cut crude oil output by 28,000bpd to just over 9mbbl/d, OPEC said on Monday, citing secondary data.

This was slightly above the quota agreed by the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers, an extended form of OPEC. Under OPEC+ voluntary cuts, Russia's monthly quota stands at 8.98mbbl/d.

OPEC+ has made a series of deep output cuts since 2022 to help stabilise what it views as a still uncertain oil market, and to prop up oil prices.