IEA sees COVID blow to oil demand in 2021, surplus in 2022
Al JazeeraThe International Energy Agency’s latest report says that global oil demand growth ‘abruptly reversed course in July’ due to the worsening coronavirus pandemic. The IEA now sees global oil demand rising by 5.3 million barrels per day on average to 96.2 million bpd this year, and by a further 3.2 million bpd in 2022. It wasn’t just OPEC+ members that increased oil production: producers outside of the cartel increased their output by 600,000 barrels per day this year, and their supply is “expected to rise by 1.7 million barrels per day in 2022, with the US accounting for 60 percent of the growth”, the IEA found. The IEA noted the disconnect between increased demand and concerns about the variant in its latest report, writing that the crude price rally seen in the second quarter of this year “lost steam in July on fears that new COVID-19 Delta cases and weaker economic indicators could slow the oil demand recovery just as more supply hit the market”.