The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday raised its forecast for global oil demand in 2022 on the back of strong economic recovery prospects, while revising downward its demand expectations for the final quarter of this year due to pandemic-related factors. OPEC said in its monthly market report, released on Sept. 13, that it expects oil demand to average 99.70 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 110,000 bpd from last month’s projections. “The increased risk of COVID-19 cases primarily fueled by the Delta variant is clouding oil demand prospects going into the final quarter of the year,” OPEC said in the report. “As a result, second-half 2021 oil demand has been adjusted slightly lower, partially delaying the oil demand recovery into first-half 2022.” At the same time, OPEC sees the world’s thirst for oil going up by 4.2 million bpd in 2022 …