An OPEC technical panel has found that global oil demand is on pace to stay strong in the second half of this year, suggesting that the oil market could comfortably absorb a production increase without sending oil prices plummeting, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing three OPEC sources. A technical panel—a kind of economic body within OPEC—met on Monday to take stock of the oil market situation and to prepare a report for the ministers of the OPEC countries at their meeting later this week. “If OPEC and its allies continue to produce at May levels then the market could be in deficit for the next six months,” one of the sources told Reuters. “The market outlook in the second half is strong,” according to another source. OPEC is up for a tough meeting in Vienna this week after the leaders of the two groups of the OPEC/NOPEC production cuts—Saudi […]