COVID-19 to erase nearly a decade of oil demand growth this year: IEA

Paris [France], April 15 (ANI): The coronavirus crisis could erase almost a decade of oil demand growth in 2020 as countries around the world effectively shut down in response to the pandemic, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.
"Global oil demand is expected to fall by a record 9.3 million barrels a day (mb/d) year-on-year in 2020. The impact of containment measures in 187 countries and territories has been to bring mobility almost to a halt," it said in its flagship report.
The IEA said demand in April is estimated to be 29 mb/d lower than a year ago, down to a level last seen in 1995. For 2Q 20, demand is expected to be 23.1 mb/d below year-ago levels.
The recovery in 2H 20 will be gradual. In December, demand will still be down 2.7 mb/d y-o-y.
"Around the world, billions of people are affected by one of the worst health crises of the past century. The global economy is under pressure in ways not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s," said IEA.
Businesses are failing and unemployment is surging. Confinement measures are in place in 187 countries and territories, and although they vary in scope, activity in the transportation sector has fallen dramatically almost everywhere.
"Even assuming that travel restrictions are eased in the second half of the year, we expect that global oil demand in 2020 will fall by 9.3 million mb/d versus 2019, erasing almost a decade of growth," said IEA.
"There is clearly a long way to go before we can put the COVID-19 crisis behind us. However, we are encouraged by the solidarity shown by policy makers from producing and consuming countries working together to meet this historic challenge of bringing stability to the oil market." (ANI)