OPEC: Oil Inventories in Advanced Economies Below an Average of 5 years in Q1 2020

Mohamed Barkindo, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Sunday (September 27th) that oil stocks in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in the first quarter of 2021 are expected to remain above their five-year average by a slight margin before falling below that level during the rest of the year.

The level of oil stocks in the economies of developed countries, members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, is a major criterion in the policy of OPEC and its allies.

“The expected balance between supply and demand will lead to the survival of the OECD stocks during the third quarter of 2020 above the latest average in five years,” Barkindo said in a remote meeting of G20 energy ministers.

“But stocks will then decline in the fourth quarter of 2020 to remain in the range of 123 million barrels above the latest five-year average,” he added.