Analysts See Oil Demand Peaking by 2030 as Electric Vehicles Boom
I always find it strange that people in the oil business talk about the &quot;oil demand&quot; without respect to price. Maybe this idea comes from when the West was pumping oil at maximum rates, fracking did not exist, and the OPEC cartel could control the price by fiat (and before OPEC I have heard the oil price was controlled by the output in Texas). At that time there was a price set by OPEC and they pumped to meet demand at that price. In that environment the using the phrase &quot;oil demand&quot;  for &quot;oil usage&quot; made sense. But in today&#x27;s world OPEC does not seem to be able to set the price very well. Peak &quot;oil demand&quot;, where demand is determined by the peak amount of oil consumed, will depend on the price and uses of oil in the future.<p>Some crazy future tech in 2045 which makes heavy oil and tar sands profitable to extract and turn into carbon fiber at $100 a ton might replace structural steel. This could push oil usage up to a new peak, even if a previous &quot;oil demand&quot; peak happened in 2030, when we decided it was really stupid to burn this great chemical stock for raw energy.