The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is hoping that lockdowns and curfews in some countries in the event of a second or third wave of COVID-19 infections will not dent global energy demand as much as in the second quarter of this year when the world was virtually in lockdown mode.
The OPEC is keeping a ‘very close’ watch on the fresh surge of COVID-19 infections in Europe, prompting fresh lockdowns in some countries, as well as the virus’s trajectory in India and America. “We were hopeful that the second half of 2020 would begin to see a recovery in the global economy as well as energy and oil demand… there were projections of a V-shaped recovery,” said OPEC secretary general Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo. “Unfortunately, both economic growth as well as demand recovery remain anemic at the moment, due largely to the virus spread,” he said.
“We remain hopeful that governments around the world, having learned the lessons of what transpired in the second quarter of 2020 and the consequences of the lockdowns on the global economy and society, would try to modify their responses and measures in the event of a second or third wave of infections,” Mr. Barkindo said at the India Energy Forum on Monday evening.
“We don’t expect a relapse to the massive contraction [in oil demand] that we saw in the second quarter,” the senior OPEC official stressed.
