Hellenic Shipping News: Poten and Partners: Reading the Tea Leaves

24 Oct 2015: “This is the time of the year that most investment banks as well as the various international oil and energy organizations, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), go on record with their forecasts for oil demand for next year. It is often said that there are two types of forecasts … lucky or wrong! Despite this, news agencies watch these releases closely for clues about the direction of oil demand and prices. The tanker industry also has a keen interest as oil demand growth is a key driver for the health of the tanker market. Against that backdrop, we thought it would be interesting to compare some of the current forecasts of oil demand for 2016 – first with each other and second, take a look at last year’s forecast of the same organizations and compare these with the current estimates for this year’s oil demand.”