THE Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday raised its world oil demand forecast for the first quarter of 2022 but left its full-year growth prediction steady, saying the Omicron coronavirus variant would have a mild impact as the world gets used to dealing with the pandemic. OPEC said in a monthly report it expects oil demand to average 99.13 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of 2022, up 1.11 million bpd from its forecast last month. “Some of the recovery previously expected in the fourth quarter of 2021 has been shifted to the first quarter of 2022, followed by a more steady recovery throughout the second half of 2022,” OPEC said in the report. “Moreover, the impact of the new Omicron variant is projected to be mild and short-lived, as the world becomes better equipped to manage COVID-19 and its related challenges.” OPEC maintained its forecast that world oil demand will grow by 5.65 million bpd in 2021, after last year’s historic decline at the start of the pandemic. In the report, OPEC maintained its forecast that world oil demand will grow by 4.15 million bpd in 2022. This year’s growth forecast was also kept unchanged. World consumption is expected to surpass the 100 million bpd mark in the third quarter of 2022, in line with last month’s forecast. On an annual basis according to OPEC, the world last used over 100 million bpd of oil in 2019. OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, are gradually unwinding record output cuts put in place last year. Earlier this month, OPEC+ agreed to boost monthly output by 400,000 bpd in January, despite concern about the new variant. The report showed OPEC output in November rose by 290,000 bpd to 27.72 million bpd.(SD-Agencies) | 