The world’s growing thirst for oil, combined with lackluster upstream investment, will require OPEC to pump close to maximum capacity in the coming years, leaving the market more vulnerable to supply squeezes and disruptions, according to the International Energy Agency. Once oil demand rebounds from the pandemic, OPEC will need to boost its crude production by more than 20% from current levels to hit 30.8 million b/d by 2026, the IEA projected in its latest medium-term market forecast March 17. The bulk of those increases will come from OPEC’s core Gulf members, more than offsetting declines in more fragile African members and Venezuela, for a net gain of 1 million b/d of crude production capacity and 250,000 b/d of condensates and NGL growth. But global oil consumption is set to grow faster, the report stated. […]