Oil prices pushed higher on Monday, June 26 as traders worried over the potential impact of political fallout in Russia on global crude supply. Also, President Putin extended his ban on oil exports compliant to oil price cap until the end of 2023. Today, at the time of writing, Brent crude was trading essentially flat at $74.31/bbl. In its turn, U.S. WTI futures are moving up marginally by about 0.06%, trading at $69.56 per barrel.

A significant loss in energy supply from one of the world’s biggest producers could mean China and India would be forced to consider other producers and compete with Western countries for supplies, driving global prices even higher.

Meanwhile, OPEC wrote on Monday that global oil demand is expected to rise to 110 million barrels a day in about 20 years, pushing the world's energy demand up by 23%. Oil will still comprise about 29% of the energy mix by then. “Oil is irreplaceable for the foreseeable future,” Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said while addressing the inaugural Energy Asia conference held in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. “Gas hydro, nuclear hydrogen and biomass will expand. But it is clear that oil remains an integral part of the mix.”

Remarkably, the forecast contradicts the International Energy Agency's earlier predictions of annual demand growth to be slowed down from 2.4 million barrels per day in 2023 to 400,000 barrels per day in 2028. The IEA projected that global oil demand will increase 6% from 2022 to 105.7 million barrels per day in 2028 on the back of petrochemical and aviation sectors.