Global oil consumption will return to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2022, while Asia will remain a driver of growth in demand for petroleum products, BP Singapore President Eugene Leong said in an interview with Bloomberg, Report informs.
The recovery in oil demand is expected to continue until the end of this year and into 2022, said the president of BP.
He noted that the demand for oil in 2022 will increase by 3.8 million barrels per day on average, compared with an increase of 5.4 million barrels per day in 2021. He added that by June, stocks of oil and most petroleum products had returned to normal levels amid limited production by OPEC+ countries and economic recovery.
According to Leong, oil demand in China will grow at the same pace this year as it did in 2020. Then it was about 1.8 percent.
Oil consumption in the country will continue to grow over the next few years and additional refining capacity is expected to come on stream in early 2022, he added.
At the same time, the growth of world oil production next year is likely to exceed consumption, as OPEC+ and US oil producers will increase production, which will lead to an excess supply of 700,000 barrels per day.
The world’s energy needs are changing rapidly, and uncertainty about how and when the pandemic will end will certainly affect market dynamics, Leong added.