Oil demand to return to pre-Covid level in 2023: IEA

WASHINGTON (AFP): Global oil demand will return to pre-pandemic levels next year as China’s consumption recovers from Covid lockdowns, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.

Soaring oil prices and weaker economic growth will temper the growth of demand in the second half of this year, said the Paris-based agency.

But “resurgent Chinese oil consumption will more than compensate for a slowdown” in oil demand among the 38-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that gathers mostly developed countries, the IEA said.

China has enforced a zero-Covid policy that has led to lockdowns in Shanghai, its economic hub.

The IEA expects global oil demand to grow to 99.4 million barrels per day in 2022 — higher than its previous estimates but still one million barrels lower than in 2019.

Demand is set to grow to 101.6 million barrels per day in 2023, according to the IEA, which advises developed countries on energy policy.

Supply “may struggle to keep pace” with demand next year, however, as major crude producer Russia faces tighter sanctions, the IEA said.