Rising electric car demand rattles oil producers

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The world’s biggest oil producers are starting to take electric vehicles seriously as a long-term threat.

OPEC quintupled its forecast for sales of plug-in EVs, and oil producers from Exxon Mobil Corp to BP Plc also revised up their outlooks in the past year, according to a study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance released on Friday.

 The London-based researcher expects those cars to reduce oil demand by eight million barrels by 2040, more than the current combined production of Iran and Iraq.