Global oil supply set to dip by record 12 mb/d in May

By Gulsen Cagatay

ANKARA (AA) - Global oil demand is expected to fall by a record 9.3 million barrels per day (mb/d) year-on-year in 2020, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Wednesday.

The IEA underlined that that plunge in demand is equivalent to erasing almost a decade of growth.

The impact of containment measures against the spread of C-19 in 187 countries and territories has brought mobility almost to a halt, the IEA's monthly oil report shows.

"Global oil supply is set to plunge by a record 12 mb/d in May, after OPEC+ forged a historic output deal to cut production by 9.7 mb/d from an agreed baseline level. As April production was high, the effective cut is 10.7 mb/d," the IEA stated.

Additional reductions are set to come from other countries with the U.S. and Canada seeing the largest declines.

- COVID-19 impact

According to the IEA's report, around the world billions of people are affected by one of the worst health crises of the past century.

"The global economy is under pressure in ways not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s; businesses are failing and unemployment is surging", the IEA underlined.

In addition, against this bleak background, policy makers are responding with radical steps in which governments have introduced massive emergency fiscal plans to support workers and businesses.