While the world is not yet back to pre-pandemic travel levels and there is still ongoing disruption to ground transportation and air traffic, the world now consumes more than 95 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and is forecast to reach an average of 97.7 million bpd during 2021, according to the latest US Energy Information Administration (EIA) outlook. The agitated global oil market has survived because of the large cuts by OPEC+, as the group unanimously worked to balance the market following the largest oil demand shock in history, huge oversupply and the accumulation of stock. OPEC+ was the dominant player in the 2020 oil supply-demand balance and it will continue to be in 2021, with the presumed recovery in global gross domestic product (GDP) resulting in an acceleration of growth in the second half of this year. What could have happened if OPEC didn’t exist during […]