The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut this year’s oil demand outlook—as new lockdowns weigh on fuel sales.
It now says it expects oil demand to recover by 5.5 million barrels per day to 96.6 million barrels this year.
That’s down 300,000 barrels from last month’s forecast.
And it follows an unprecedented collapse of 8.8 million barrels a day in 2020.
The downward revision comes as CCP virus cases rise and renewed lockdowns are in place in Europe and China.
It says global vaccine rollouts will help restore demand in the second half of the year.
It also cuts this quarter’s estimates down by 600,000 barrels a day, a small decline from the end of last year.
OPEC plus (OPEC and its non-OPEC producers) will be curbing supply. That will ease the world’s swollen inventories. Oil kingpin Saudi Arabia will be driving the reduction. They alone plan to cut production by 1 million barrels per day in February and March.
That will help keep prices up. On Jan. 19, Brent crude futures traded above 55 dollars a barrel in London. That’s nearly their highest in almost a year.
