In Saudi Arabia, December 2013 oil demand was dominated by gains in all product
categories, notably gasoline, gas/diesel oil and residual fuel oil. Moreover, direct crude
burning for electricity generation increased for the first month since July 2013.
Oil demand grew in Iraq during November 2013, with direct crude burning for electricity
generation taking the bulk of these increases. Gains were partly offset by declining
demand in other product categories, especially jet fuel/kerosene and gasoline.
The latest December 2013 Qatari and Kuwaiti data shows oil demand increasing
y-o-y, with fuel oil in Kuwait and jet fuel in Qatar, being the products accounting for the
greater part of these increases. The outlooks for 2014 Middle East oil demand
remained unchanged since the previous month’s projections, with risks being equally
distributed both to the upside and downside.
For 2013, Middle East oil demand grew by 0.29 mb/d, while in 2014, it is projected to
increase by 0.31 mb/d.
