India to topple China in global oil demand growth by 2024

If research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie’s prediction is anything to go by, then India is on the verge on toppling China in terms of growth for oil demand in another six years.

According to the group, India’s demand for oil will shoot up by 3.5 billion barrels a day for a period of 18 years i.e 2017 to 2035. If that be so, India would account for one-third of the global demand for oil growth. Here India’s middle class will play a vital role, according to the consultancy group.

“China, who overtook the United States as the largest importer of crude oil, will see a fall in their oil demand growth from 2024 to 2035,” the research director of the Wood Mackenzie, Sushant Gupta, was quoted as saying by CNBC. Also, China is presently the second-largest consumer in the universe.

Gupta also gave a logic for trends: First, the need for gasoline and diesel are being displaced by other energy sources like electricity and natural gas and secondly, there are several better freight system and truck fleet which will render diesel less efficient.

There was also a warning issued for India by the Wood Mackenzie which relates to the oil shortage the country will face. India is about to pile up 400,000 barrels per day in firm refinery capacity till 2023.

“We think the most likely situation is that India would need between (3.2 million and 4.7 million barrels per day) of new capacity out to 2035 to remain self-sufficient in transport fuels. So we are talking about a future capacity which is 1.7 to 2.0 times the current. This is clearly an uphill task, unless domestic refiners can commit to their planned capacity additions,” Gupta was quoted as saying by a Wood Mackenzie release.

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