Oil industry placing risky bet on plastics: Report

Big oil producers are pinning their future growth on the world’s insatiable appetite for plastic, researchers said Friday, in a “bet” on society’s failure to tackle disposable consumption that risks stranding billions of dollars in petrochemical investments.

The industry has faced increasingly urgent questions in recent months about whether “peak” oil demand has been reached, with the coronavirus pandemic leading to a dramatic drop in transport fuel consumption, while cleaner energy makes ever greater headway.

But oil producers now see plastics as the biggest driver of future demand, according to a new report by financial think tank Carbon Tracker and sustainability and development group Systemiq.