OREANDA-NEWS. In Saudi Arabia, October oil demand eased when compared with the growth observed in 3Q13 as temperatures continued to drop, reducing consumption particularly in the power generation sector. In fact, October oil demand saw a growth of 0.1 mb/d, compared with higher growth of 0.15 mb/d in 3Q13. Crude burning continued to decline, partially offsetting increases in fuel oil demand as prices are much lower compared with crude or diesel prices. For the whole year, Saudi oil demand is expected to increase by 5.2% to average 3.0 mb/d. The latest data for October saw growth in Iraq — almost at the same magnitude as in September — of around 60 tb/d, driven by increasing direct crude burning for electricity generation and rising LPG and jet fuel requirements.

Middle East oil demand is expected to grow by 0.29 mb/d in 2013 to average 7.87 mb/d and 0.31 mb/d in 2014, in line with higher economic expectations. The estimated demand growth for 2013 and the outlook for 2014 in the Middle East remained unchanged from the previous month’s projections.