IEA: Global Oil Demand to Return to Pre-Covid Levels Only by 2023

Paris – The global oil demand is expected to bounce back to the levels of 2019 only by 2023 after it experienced a huge decline last year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

“Global oil demand, still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, is unlikely to catch up with its pre-Covid trajectory. In 2020, the start of our forecast period, oil demand was nearly 9 mb/d below the level seen in 2019, and it is not expected to return to that level before 2023,” the IEA said in the Oil 2021 report.

The oil demand in 2019 amounted to 99.7 mbd, while in 2020 it shrank to 91 mbd and this year is expected to rebound to 96.5 mbd, according to the same source.

“As a result, by 2026, global oil consumption is projected to reach 104.1 mb/d. This would represent an increase of 4.4 mb/d from 2019 levels. Oil demand in 2025 is set to be 2.5 mb/d lower than was forecast a year ago in our Oil 2020 report,” the report said.