LONDON: The OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee (JTC) expects the overall surplus in 2022 to reach 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), slightly less than its previous forecast of 1.4 million bpd, a report prepared by committee and seen by Reuters showed. The JTC met on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, together known as OPEC+.

The committee kept the forecast for world oil demand growth unchanged for 2022 at 4.2 million bpd, noting that it expected it to rise to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of the year. It noted, however that a number of risks continue to linger over the oil market, including “significant uncertainties” associated with the potential impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant, ongoing supply chain bottlenecks and central bank policy to counter inflation.