Global oil demand fell counter-seasonally in July by approximately 1.1 million barrels per day (mbpd), driven by declines in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Europe, India, China, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, new data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) shows.
The drop sits in contrast to the five-year average for the month of July, excluding the pandemic years of 2020-2021, which shows demand rising seasonally by an average of 350,000 bpd.
Global crude oil production increased by about 50000 bpd in July, the JODI update shows. The July changes brought both crude oil production and demand to 98 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
The data also showed that Russian gas production declined for a fourth consecutive month and was more than 34 percent below March levels.
The JODI oil and gas databases were updated on Monday with 51 countries reporting data for the latest month of July 2022. The July data submissions account for more than 70 percent of global oil demand and 55 per cent of global crude production. Notably, this month’s update did not include oil data for Russia.
Product inventories grew by 63 mb – more than three times the average seasonal increase. Crude inventories increased counter-seasonally by 9 million barrels. Together, global crude and product inventories stood nearly 438 million barrels below the five-year average.
Highlights for June oil data include:
Saudi Arabia
Crude production rose by 169 kbpd to 10.82 mbpd.
Crude exports grew by 188 kbpd to 7.38 mbpd – a 27-month high.
Product exports fell by 170 kbpd to 1.43 mbpd.
Demand fell counter-seasonally by 192 kbpd – the first monthly decline since February.
Direct burn of crude oil fell by 26 kbpd to 661 kbpd in July.
Crude inventories grew by 211 kb to 142.1 mb.
China
Demand fell by 191 kbpd in July and was 655 kbpd below year-ago levels. However, it was still 135 kbpd above July 2019 levels.
Crude imports rose by 74 kbpd in July but were down 924 kbpd from year-ago levels.
Total product exports increased by 21 kbpd in July, but they were 562 kbpd below July 2019 levels.
United States
Crude oil inventories fell by 14.3 mb in July and are now at their lowest level since 2003.
Total product inventories increased by 52.9 mb to 676.2 mb.
Highlights for June natural gas data include:
Natural gas demand was at 104 percent of year-ago levels while production was at 96 percent of 2021 levels.
Russian gas production declined for a fourth consecutive month and is down 34 percent from March levels.
EU+UK gas consumption was at a five-year seasonal low in July, while LNG imports have more than doubled from a year ago. The group’s inventories increased by 3.9 bcm – less than the seasonal average build of 9.7 bcm – to stand 63 percent full at the end of July.
Global LNG exports declined slightly in July and were in-line with year-ago levels.
Total gas inventories increased by 15.5 billion cubic metre (bcm) and stood 15.9 bcm below the five-year average.
