TotalEnergies sees peak oil demand before 2030 in green energy push

PARIS (Bloomberg) --French energy giant TotalEnergies SE expects global oil demand to peak before the end of this decade, sooner than it previously forecast, as more nations crack down on fossil fuels to fight global warming.

The oil major’s 2021 Energy Outlook, which includes net-zero pledges unveiled by several countries since the presentation of last year’s edition, assumes oil demand plateauing before 2030 and declining afterwards both in the group’s “Momentum” and “Rupture” scenarios, the company said Monday in a statement.

Total’s base-case scenario in its 2020 Energy Outlook was for crude demand to level out around 2030 and slowly decline afterwards. The company also cut its forecast for global emissions, reflecting pledges from major companies to become carbon neutral in coming decades.   

As a result, this year’s edition raises “considerably” the forecast for solar and wind investments by the middle of the century as governments increasingly ban the sale of internal combustion vehicles and single-use plastics.