The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest 2018 global crude demand forecast shows that demand is expected to increase by 1.5 million b/d this year, landing at a total of 99.3 million barrels per day. Last year’s total demand sat at 97.8 million b/d.

Global oil supply is also on the rise with 97.9 million b/d last month, up nearly 1 million b/d from February 2017. The increase was caused by strong domestic crude production in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year. This analysis underscores that rising crude production from the U.S. is helping to meet global demand, while OPEC and non-OPEC producers maintain their production cuts throughout the year. In fact, IEA’s analysis shows that OPEC production edged lower in February 2018 to 32.1 million b/d, allowing the U.S. to gain more of the market as its production roars to new weekly records.