Sectors such as plastics and aviation expected to bolster oil demand
Oil demand may not peak until 2040s – Vitol
Near-term demand expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by summer 2022 as air travel rebounds
Oil demand could peak in the road transport sector as early as 2026 but may not top out in other sectors—including plastics and aviation—until the 2030s and 2040s, says leading oil trader Vitol. Growing uptake of electric vehicles could see gasoline and diesel demand peak in 2026, 2027 or 2028, Vitol CEO Russell Hardy told the Energy Intelligence Forum 2021. But demand for jet fuel in the aviation sector may not peak until the 2040s, he added. “Jet fuel has a kind of substitute in sustainable aviation fuel. But clearly, there is a lot of investment needed to create production capacity for that fuel to even start to dent jet fuel demand,” Hardy says. Demand for oil from the plastics sector ma
Also in this section
30 April 2025
While economic weakness and the electric vehicles trend have hit oil demand growth, petrochemicals and jet fuel show more nuanced changes across the barrel
28 April 2025
Rewards offered by investment in the sector must be balanced by its energy consumption amid an increasingly gas-hungry domestic market
25 April 2025
PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC are aiming to rebalance their energy mixes but face technically difficult deepwater and shale task
25 April 2025
EACOP has overcome a significant hurdle, with a group of regional banks providing an initial financing tranche for a scheme that has attracted criticism from environmental campaigners
