OPEC Fortifies Outlier View That Oil Demand Will Grow to 2050
Inside the Zubair oil and gas field, in Basra, Iraq.
Photographer: Haidar Mohammed Ali/AFP/Getty Images
OPEC reinforced its view — an outlier even within the petroleum industry — that global oil consumption will keep increasing to the middle of the century.
Demand will grow by roughly 19% to reach almost 123 million barrels a day by 2050, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a report Thursday. That’s about 3 million a day more than it predicted in September. India will lead the expansion, and US President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate accord is supporting the outlook, it said.