IHS Markit: Q1 2020 oil demand to post largest fall in history

March 4, 2020
IHS Markit expects that world oil demand in this year’s first quarter will decline by the largest volume in history—even exceeding the declines during the 2009 financial crisis.

IHS Markit expects that world oil demand in this year’s first quarter will decline by the largest volume in history—even exceeding the declines during the 2009 financial crisis.

Owing to the unprecedented stoppage of Chinese economic activity in February and the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outside of China, IHS estimates that world oil demand in the quarter will be 3.8 million b/d lower than a year earlier—a downward revision of 4.5 million b/d from previous estimates prior to COVID-19.

“This is a sudden, instant demand shock—and the scale of the decline is unprecedented,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets, IHS Markit.

The previous largest decline was in 2009, when oil demand fell 3.6 million b/d in the first quarter. In another milestone event, the US Federal Reserve on Mar. 3 announced its first rate cut since 2008 that occurred outside a scheduled policy meeting.   

According to IHS, most of the demand decline is in China, but demand elsewhere, including Europe, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and North America, has been revised downward.

COVID-19 cases outside of China continue to accelerate, which means that the negative demand impact will continue into the second quarter.

Demand for all refined products is negatively impacted, but especially for gasoline in China because of the steep decline in road travel as a result of government restrictions and for jet fuel due to flight cancellations within China and the long-haul routes to and from Asia. In China, commercial passenger trips by road, rail, air, and water were down 80% in February compared with a year ago.

OPEC production is at a 17-year low and could drop even further as oil buyers cut purchases in March and April. But the decline in output is still less than the decline in demand, which means oil inventories are likely to experience a large increase, particularly in China and the Middle East, unless OPEC at its ministerial meeting later this week cuts production in a major way.

It now appears likely that oil demand will be less than in 2019, even if there is a recovery in the second half the year.