India’s oil demand growth will exceed China's by 2030 – IEA

"India is forecast to be the single largest source of global oil demand growth from 2023 to 2030, narrowly ahead of China,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts.

PHOTO: Oil barrels with Indian flag. Getty Images

India's oil demand growth is forecast to rise by nearly 1.2 million b/d between 2023-2030. The country's oil consumption is expected to reach 6.6 million b/d by the end of this decade, according to the IEA.

India's oil demand stood at 5.4 million b/d in 2023, the US Energy Information Administration's data shows.

Paris-based IEA has not released a forecast for China's oil demand growth during the same period. However, China's oil demand is expected to peak in 2030 at 16.6 million b/d, "ending decades of growth" before declining to 12 million b/d in 2050, according to the IEA's World Energy Outlook report published in October last year.

India's total oil consumption is expected to stay below China's, yet its oil demand growth is anticipated to contribute to more than one-third of the projected 3.2 million b/d global oil demand growth, the IEA estimates. Global oil demand is projected at 101.5 million b/d by 2030.

“Urbanisation, industrialisation, the emergence of a wealthier middle-class keen for mobility and tourism, plus efforts to achieve greater access to clean cooking, will underpin the expansion in oil demand [in India],” the report explains.

By Konica Bhatt

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