The outlook for the oil market is generally positive since the uncertainty in the market has been relieved, but the downside risks caused by COVID-19 remain, Barkindo said recently, the secretary-general of The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"We've came a long way from where we were a year ago," Mr. Balkindo said, " and the days when GDP and oil demand figures ran deficits because of the epidemic seem to be over." OPEC expects oil demand to grow by 5.8 million BPD to about 96 million arrels a day (BPD) in 2021, up to 96 million BPD, but there are still gaps compared with 100 million BPD in 2019. Encouraging global economic development, resilient demand in Asia and COVID-19 vaccination are upside factors, while the pandemic remains a downside risk to oil demand.

There is widespread expectation that production cuts of OPEC and its participating producers (OPEC+) will be eased. However, given the underlying uncertainty in spot market and macro sentiments, it can only maintain cautious optimism for the market. Market participants believe the recent apparent rise in oil prices may have been caused more by financial players rather than by the improved physical fundamentals in the oil market.