Consumption growth will be even slower in 2026, at 690,000 barrels a day, due to “a fragile macroeconomic environment” and the rising popularity of electric vehicles, the Paris-based agency said.
The International Energy Agency slashed forecasts for global oil demand this year amid the brewing trade war, and in its first detailed assessment of 2026 predicted a persistent supply surplus.
The adviser to major economies chopped projections for 2025 demand growth by a hefty 300,000 barrels a day — or almost a third — to 730,000 barrels a day, according to a monthly report on Tuesday. Half of the reduction was concentrated in the US and China, which are engaged in a full-blown trade war.
