OPEC on Monday sounded an optimistic tone about the oil market, saying that higher demand is expected in the third and fourth quarters. The comments, from Qatar energy minister Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, who serves as OPEC president, are likely to quell any expectations of a production freeze deal in the near future. The recent decline in oil prices “is only temporary,” and the result of weaker refinery margins, inventory overhang and the UK’s recent vote to leave the EU, Sada said, according to an OPEC news release. With major oil consuming countries seeing their economies improve and winter approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, oil demand will rise in the next two quarters, he continued. Article Continues below… “This expectation of higher crude oil demand in [the] third and fourth quarters of 2016, coupled with decrease in availability is leading the analysts to conclude that the current bear market […]