RIYADH: The International Energy Agency has lowered its global oil demand forecast for 2022 by 260,000 barrels a day due to strict COVID-19 lockdowns in China and lower OECD demand. Daily demand is set to stand at 99.4 million barrels per day in 2022, up from 1.9 million barrels a day in 2021. While the global oil supply surged 450,000 barrels per day to reach 99.1 million barrels a day in March, the Russian oil supply is projected to fall by 1.5 million barrels a day in April. Nevertheless, lower overall demand along with a rise in the output from OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ countries as well as stock releases from IEA member countries is anticipated to curb potential deficits. As a result of the new capacity and seasonal gains, global refineries throughputs are expected to climb by 4.4 million barrels per day from April to August. Overall, 2022 runs are conjectured to gain around 3 million barrels a day which is still below 2017 levels.