The worst for the oil markets may be behind us: here’s why – The National

The worst for the oil markets may be behind us: here’s why – The National

The heaviest demand destruction seen in Q1 is over says IEA as lockdown measures continue to be eased. With countries easing or beginning to relax lockdown measures, the doom and gloom forecasts around the oil market appear to be reversing.. "Traffic congestion data shows China road traffic is back to pre-Covid-19 levels with Beijing traffic well above.. The Paris-based agency revised its annual demand forecast up by 700,000 bpd, bringing the decline to 8.6m bpd.. The IEA had previously forecast a decline of 9.3m bpd for 2020.. The agency revised its second-quarter projections up, but noted demand for the period was still sharply down by 19.9m bpd.. Its forecast for May was revised down by 1.2m bpd, with demand expected to plunge 5.19m bpd on a year-on-year basis.. Oil demand from non-OECD countries is also set to plunge 3.88m bpd, a further 1.03m bpd downward revision from the previous month's projection.. Steep declines in US production. Output is estimated to further decline by 800,000 bpd in 2021, which would mark the first annual decline since 2016..