The global gasoline demand growth is projected to halve by 2024 due to the surge in electric vehicles (EVs) in China and the United States. This shift is anticipated to put a squeeze on second-half refinery margins.
What Happened: Analytics firm Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac) forecasts that demand will rise by 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, marking the lowest growth since 2020, Reuters reported on Monday. This is a notable decline from last year’s growth of 700,000 bpd.
The decelerating demand is linked to the growing penetration of EVs in the U.S. and China, according to WoodMac analyst Sushant Gupta.
This year, Chinese demand is expected to grow by only 10,000 bpd due to higher EV uptake.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China, once the world’s driver of gasoline demand, is projected to account for more than half of all EV sales this year. As falling prices spur demand, the share of electric cars sold this year could reach 45% in China, ...