
Tom Wilson of the Financial Times reports that global oil demand is expected to peak at 110 million barrels per day by 2030 and remain steady at 105 million b/d through 2040, driven by population growth and increasing demand for petrochemicals and LPG. Wilson writes:
Global demand for oil will not fall until at least 2040, according to a new forecast by the world’s largest independent energy trader, in the latest signal that economies will struggle to break their dependence on petroleum.Vitol, which trades about 7 per cent of the world’s oil supply every day, expects global demand to peak at almost 110mn barrels per day at the end of this decade, and then retreat to current levels of about 105mn b/d in 2040. […]The forecast sets Vitol apart from the International Energy Agency, which expects oil demand to peak at 105.6mn b/d in 2029. The prediction also differs from those made by BP. […]So far that strategy has been successful and has made Vitol one of the most profitable companies in the world on a per employee basis. It made net profits of $15bn in 2022 and $13bn in 2023 as geopolitical disruptions roiled oil markets.Vitol is owned by approximately 450 senior partners and employs about 1,700 people, mainly spread across trading hubs in London, Geneva, Singapore and Houston.
Read more here.