Resurgent pandemic brings new headwinds for the oil market

With India the world’s third-biggest oil market, the economic slowdown driven by the pandemic will hit oil prices.

Policemen riding Segways in Mumbai
As Mumbai falls eerily quiet, petrol and diesel demand will plummet
(Image credit: © PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)

A slowing Indian economy is a new headwind for oil prices. The country is the world’s third-biggest oil market, importing more than $100bn of the fuel in 2019. Before Covid-19, world oil consumption was around 100 million barrels per day (mbpd). That figure tumbled by 8.7mbpd last year, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA thinks global demand will recover by 5.7mbpd this year, says Robert Perkins of S&P Global. The agency has raised its forecasts because of strong rebounds in China and the US.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.