Sectors such as plastics and aviation expected to bolster oil demand
Oil demand may not peak until 2040s – Vitol
Near-term demand expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by summer 2022 as air travel rebounds
Oil demand could peak in the road transport sector as early as 2026 but may not top out in other sectors—including plastics and aviation—until the 2030s and 2040s, says leading oil trader Vitol. Growing uptake of electric vehicles could see gasoline and diesel demand peak in 2026, 2027 or 2028, Vitol CEO Russell Hardy told the Energy Intelligence Forum 2021. But demand for jet fuel in the aviation sector may not peak until the 2040s, he added. “Jet fuel has a kind of substitute in sustainable aviation fuel. But clearly, there is a lot of investment needed to create production capacity for that fuel to even start to dent jet fuel demand,” Hardy says. Demand for oil from the plastics sector ma
Also in this section
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
8 January 2026
The region’s access to versatile feedstock, combined with policy support, is setting it up to meet growing demand both at home and abroad
7 January 2026
No longer can the energy source be considered a sidekick to oil in the Middle East and neither should it step aside for less convincing alternatives
