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The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday further trimmed its forecasts for global oil demand growth this year and next, marking the organisation’s downward revision for the fifth consecutive month.

In its monthly oil market report for December, OPEC expected a global oil demand growth of 1.61 million barrels per day (bpd) for 2024, down about 210,000 bpd from the growth of 1.82 million bpd projected last month.

OPEC attributed the adjustment to updated data for the first three quarters of this year, particularly the “bearish data” for the third quarter. Meanwhile, OPEC estimated the 2025 global oil demand growth at 1.45 million bpd, down 90,000 bpd from last month’s assessment of 1.54 million bpd. However, the organization insisted that the revised prediction still marks “a healthy growth level compared to pre-pandemic averages.”

OPEC has already lowered its forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2024 and 2025 in its monthly market reports for four months in a row since August. OPEC had maintained its global oil demand growth forecasts of 2.25 million bpd this year and 1.85 million bpd next year by August.