Vitol sees oil demand in 2022 outpacing the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, with crude prices likely to remain elevated for some time, the global energy trader’s chief executive said on Monday.

“Twelve months ago, the worst horrors of COVID appeared to be over. As life in many societies began to get back to normal, so oil demand rebounded, with all products apart from jet fuel seeing strong growth,” CEO Russell Hardy said.

“Whilst we anticipate oil demand falling in the long term, demand is likely to continue to grow for the next decade. Given limited investment in production, we expect a ‘demand gap’ to widen over the next few years,” he said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair)