OREANDA-NEWS. In Saudi Arabia, the first three quarters of 2013 indicate 2.1% y-o-y growth in oil demand. Strong growth in the road transportation sector, supported by solid gains in auto sales, led to higher demand for diesel and gasoline, while fuel oil has been replacing crude oil in direct burning for electricity generation. Oil demand also grew solidly in Iraq during August 2013, as a result of increasing direct crude burning for electricity generation and rising LPG and jet fuel requirements, which more than offset declining gasoline and fuel oil demand. Latest September Qatari data show oil demand increasing by almost 5% y-o-y, with diesel and LPG accounting for the bulk of the increase. The outlook for 2013 and 2014 Middle East oil demand remained unchanged from the previous month’s projections.

Middle East oil demand is expected to grow by 0.29 mb/d in 2013 and 0.31 mb/d in 2014, in line with higher economic expectations.