OPEC+ has lowered its 2021 oil demand growth forecast by 300,000 bbl/d reflecting concerns about the market’s recovery, a report from its experts panel meeting seen by Reuters showed.

The Joint Technical Committee, which advises the group of oil-producing nations that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, met on March 30 ahead of a ministerial meeting on April 1 to decide output policy.

“Despite the ongoing destocking of commercial OECD stocks, they remain above the 2015-2019 average, while recognizing that prevailing volatility in the market structure is a signal of fragile market conditions,” the panel said in the report.

Under its base-case scenario, it now expects oil demand to grow by 5.6 million bbl/d this year, down by 300,000 bbl/d from its previous forecast.

It also raised its global supply growth forecast by 200,000 bbl/d to 1.6 million bbl/d.

As a result, it now sees oil stocks in the industrialized world dipping below the 2015-19 average in August, a month later than it previously forecast.

OPEC and allied producers, a group known as OPEC+, are currently curbing output by just over 7 million bbl/d in a bid to support prices and reduce oversupply. Saudi Arabia has added to those cuts with an additional one million bbl/d.

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