With global oil demand reaching the monthly peak reached in 2019 before the Covid-19 epidemic, the world economy today depends heavily on oil. Around 102.5 million barrels of oil are consumed globally every day, a record level that was likely hit in the latter weeks of July and is greater than the 102.3 million consumed in August of the previous year.
This is not surprising considering that throughout the summer in the northern hemisphere, millions of families from Europe and the United States consume large amounts of jet fuel and gasoline. Additionally, the wholesale price of refined goods like gasoline is rising.
Rise in oil use
The new demand milestone is only one shaky data point and a precise number probably won’t be known until 2019 or even 2025. Although there is a substantial margin of error, experience shows that demand is often revised upward rather than down.
Better data is available for the period from January to April when the average daily global oil consumption was 100.8 million barrels, up from 99.9 million during the same period in 2019.
- Global oil demand reaches a record high, with daily consumption reaching 102.5 million barrels.
- New demand milestone uncertain; revision upward rather than downward.
- Global oil consumption is unlikely to decline rapidly by 2030.
According to common knowledge, gasoline consumption peaked in 2019 and is now playing a major role in driving up demand.
Three things are to blame for the rise in gasoline use: the popularity of electric vehicles, the rise in gasoline-powered vehicles, the lengthened vehicle ownership periods of consumers, the postponement of the development of newer, more fuel-efficient models, and the substitution of gasoline vehicles for diesel ones by European consumers.
According to existing patterns, the oil demand will rise by another 3% to 4% over the following five years before reaching a high plateau.
There is no indication that consumption will abruptly decline. By 2030, global oil consumption will not have decreased nearly as much as is required to achieve net-zero emissions.
