The International Energy Agency says electric vehicles and biofuels for transportation are permanently slowing the growth of demand for oil.
“[G]lobal oil demand will rise by 6% between 2022 and 2028 to reach 105.7 million barrels per day (mb/d) – supported by robust demand from the petrochemical and aviation sectors. Despite this cumulative increase, annual demand growth is expected to shrivel from 2.4 mb/d this year to just 0.4 mb/d in 2028, putting a peak in demand in sight. [Emphasis added.]
“In particular, the use of oil for transport fuels is set to go into decline after 2026 as the expansion of electric vehicles, the growth of biofuels and improving fuel economy reduce consumption.
“‘The shift to a clean energy economy is picking up pace, with a peak in global oil demand in sight before the end of this decade as electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other technologies advance,’ said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. ‘Oil producers need to pay careful attention to the gathering pace of change and calibrate their investment decisions to ensure an orderly transition.’”
Haven’t we heard about peak oil before? In 1956 M. King Hubbert predicted that global crude oil production would reach a permanent peak around 1970. It didn’t.
Thomas Holst explains why here.
(H-T Sarah George on the edie website.)
Oil rig image is from Angela at Pixabay.
Flawed, indeed, was Hubbert’s peak oil theory. I remember my petroleum geology professor at Stanford in 1959 dismissing Hubbert’s theory, saying peak production was a horse’s-tail curve.