Led by China, global oil demand to increase in the coming years, says Fatih Birol

The G7 has taken stock of the global energy crisis and the need to preserve the planet by accelerating the decarbonisation of the energy sector and deployment of renewables. The countries reiterated their commitment to the Paris agreement, keeping a limit of 1.5 degrees within reach. The G7 said that ensuring economic resilience and economic security globally remains the best protection against the weaponisation of economic vulnerabilities.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), highlighted that global oil demand is set to increase in the coming years, with a significant surge expected to originate from China. As the world's largest oil consumer, China's economic rebound will play a pivotal role in determining oil prices during the winter months.

"This winter, how we are going to see the oil markets will depend on two important factors — how strongly the Chinese economy will rebound: as per current expectations from the Chinese economy, we expect global oil demand to increase slightly more than $2 million barrels per day, out of which 60 percent will come from China alone; and how the oil producing countries will respond to that demand: if the producing countries continue with their current policies we may well see a tightness in the second half of this year, towards winter in the global oil markets," Birol said.