Global oil demand has already exceeded the threshold of 100 million barrels per day (bpd) last seen before the pandemic, supermajor BP estimates.
Demand will continue to increase and reach pre-COVID levels at some point in 2022, BP’s chief financial officer Murray Auchincloss said on Tuesday at a conference call following the release of the Q3 results.
“Somewhere next year we will be above pre-Covid levels,” Auchincloss said on the call, as carried by Bloomberg.
“OPEC+ is doing a good job managing the balance, so we remain constructive on oil prices,” BP’s CFO added on the call about BP’s third-quarter results, which beat analyst estimates.
Brent Crude prices rose by 7 percent to average $74 per barrel in the third quarter and moved above $80 per barrel in recent weeks, Auchincloss said at the Q3 results presentation.
“This reflects the strong rebound in oil demand as the impact of COVID eases as well as the measured increases in OPEC+ supply. As a result, inventories have reduced back toward pre-pandemic levels. As we look ahead to the end of the year, we expect oil prices to be supported by continued inventory draw-down, with the potential for additional demand from gas to oil switching,” BP’s executive added.
BP’s view about global oil demand is generally in line with most analyst and industry estimates pointing to consumption returning to pre-pandemic levels as soon as this quarter or early next year.
The oil industry is “massively underinvesting” in supply to meet growing demand, which is set to return to pre-COVID levels as soon as the end of 2021 or early 2022, Greg Hill, president of U.S. oil producer Hess Corp, said at the end of September.
OPEC sees 2022 global oil demand averaging 100.8 million bpd next year, while the International Energy Agency (IEA), although with a more conservative estimate of 2022 demand, expects consumption at 99.6 million bpd in 2022, “slightly above pre-Covid levels.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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