Oil Markets Are a Long Way From Back to Normal
Vaccine setbacks, virus variants and the new hassles involved in air travel mean it's too early to be too optimistic about a rebound in demand.
It’s quiet, too quiet.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergWe’re all pinning our hopes on vaccines to free us to meet friends and family, travel and return to something like our normal lives. Oil market forecasters, too, are finally getting a little more optimistic about the recovery in demand that should accompany that return. But a closer look shows we’re just not there yet.
In their latest monthly reports, the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries all raised their oil demand estimates for 2021. It’s the first time since they began publishing such forecasts that they’ve all been more optimistic than they were a month earlier.