Virus weighs on global oil demand

The coronavirus pandemic is weighing heavily on demand for oil as the aviation and transport sectors, in particular, struggle with the fallout from the lockdowns aimed at reining in the disease, the International Energy Agency has said.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow over oil demand, which we now expect to fall by 8.1 million barrels per day year-on-year in 2020,” the IEA wrote in its latest monthly report.

Overall, the IEA cut its forecast for global oil demand for the whole of 2020 to 91.9 million barrels per day, but said it expected demand to recover somewhat next year to 97.1 million barrels.