The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) predicts that next year there will be an oversupply of oil, estimating that the highest rates will occur from January through March.

According to the base scenario, which takes into account the latest decisions of OPEC+ (OPEC and 10 allied countries) - to raise supply by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) by September 2022 - and the announcement by the United States to use 50 million barrels of its strategic reserves, the excess supply will be two million bpd in January, 3.4 million in February, and 3.8 million in March.

Experts forecast a surplus of 1.7 million bpd on average, compared to a deficit of 1.2 million barrels this year, according to the report, released by the official TASS news agency.

The OPEC+ technical committee revised downward its oil demand forecast for this year, at 96.4 million bpd. For 2022, the projections remain at 100.6 million bpd.

Experts from the alliance believe that it will not be possible to fully assess the impact of the new variant of the coronavirus on the demand for oil until two weeks from now.