Global oil demand will recover to pre-pandemic levels late next year, the International Energy Agency predicted, urging OPEC and its allies to keep markets balanced by tapping their plentiful spare production capacity.
World consumption will once again reach 100 million barrels a day in the second half of 2022 as developed economies bring the virus under control, the agency said, in its first detailed outlook for the year ahead. At some point before the end of the year, demand will surpass pre-Covid levels, it said.
The forecast counters speculation that oil use — and the resulting planet-warming emissions — may have already peaked as a result of social changes in the wake of the pandemic.
