OPEC expects the world oil market to be balanced by late 2018 as its deal with other producers to cut output further reduces excess oil in storage, even as the U.S. and other producers outside the group pump more.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a monthly report, cut its estimate of global demand for its crude in 2018 by 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 33.15 million bpd, in part because of higher U.S. supply.
But the 14-country producer group said its oil output in November, as assessed by secondary sources, was below the 2018 demand forecast at 32.45 million bpd, a drop of about 133,000 bpd from October.
