OPEC Releases Annual Flagship Publication in Vienna
This week, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) presented its Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB) 2022. This report, which presents a large number of statistics and data on oil market developments in recent years, is the organisation's most important publication alongside the World Oil Outlook.
OPEC publishes the Annual Statistical Bulletin annually. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / DALIBRI / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
This week, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) presented its Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB) 2022. This report, on oil market developments in recent years, is the organisation's most important publication alongside the World Oil Outlook.
The event, at which the ASB was presented, took place in a hybrid format and was led by speeches from Dr Ayed Al-Qahtani, Director of the Research Department of the OPEC Secretariat, and Dr Jakob Müllner, Associate Professor and Academic Director at the WU Executive Academy.
A wide range of industry stakeholders attended the event, which was livestreamed via the organisation's website and YouTube account.
In its 57th edition, ASB offers a comprehensive range of statistical data on almost all aspects of the oil and gas industry, from exploration and production to refining and transportation.
The OPEC Secretariat launched its flagship publication today – the 57th edition of the Annual Statistical Bulletin – which provides a broad range of statistics and data with focus on oil and natural gas. pic.twitter.com/PUwBfgs5dH
— OPEC (@OPECSecretariat) June 28, 2022
The publication is considered a reliable source of statistics on the oil and gas activities of the 13 OPEC member countries, Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
The report also includes data for other producers by geographic region and covers the world's major economies.
"OPEC is committed to increasing data transparency through the widespread dissemination of accurate and up-to-date oil and gas data, not only through the ASB, but through all our publications. Maintaining transparency in everything we do underpins our key objective of creating sustainable oil market stability," Dr Al-Qahtani said.
The opening address was followed by a panel discussion with key OPEC experts to discuss the highlights of this year's ASB. Among the topics discussed were the historic decline in oil production due to the Covid-19 virus in 2020, and the rapid rebound in production in 2021 to an average of 69.64 mb/d.
OPEC crude oil production increased by 0.70 mb/d or 2.7 per cent year-on-year, while non-OPEC crude oil production declined slightly by 0.18 mb/d or 0.4 per cent.
On a positive note from OPEC's perspective, global oil demand recovered from the pandemic and increased by 6.3 per cent year-on-year. In particular, the OECD countries of America, Europe and China recorded the highest increase in oil demand.
Oil demand in OPEC member countries developed positively in 2021, increasing by 5.3% year-on-year. Distillates and gasoline accounted for more than half of the demand and showed an upward trend.
In contrast, no significant change could be observed in crude oil reserves. At just over 1,500 billion barrels, they are roughly at the level of 2020.
The proven crude oil reserves of OPEC member countries fell slightly to 1,242 billion barrels at the end of 2021, after they had risen in 2020. Global natural gas proved reserves decreased by 0.5 per cent to around 205.9 trillion standard cubic metres (tr s cu m) at the end of 2021.
Proven natural gas reserves in OPEC Member Countries stood at 74.24 trillion cubic metres at the end of 2021, up 0.8 per cent from the end of 2020.
The average nominal price of the OPEC Reference Basket was $69.89/b in 2021 compared to $41.47/b in 2020, an increase of $28.42/b or 68.5 per cent.
The discussion was followed by a Q&A session with journalists and analysts in attendance. A special video was also shown during the event, presenting the main findings of the publication.