Crude oil demand during this quarter will likely register the largest decline on record, larger even than the slump that accompanied the 2008 financial crisis, IHS Markit has forecast . The market research firm unsurprisingly attributed the slump to the decline in economic activity resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, calling the situation in China, where the outbreak started, “an unprecedented stoppage” of economic activity. With pretty much every industry suffering the blow of the outbreak, IHS Markit said it expected oil demand to drop by as much as 3.8 million bpd this quarter, to 96 million bpd. This is bad news for OPEC, which is meeting today and tomorrow in Vienna to discuss additional cuts of 1 million bpd, which would bring their total cuts to 2.7 million bpd. Adding to this the more than 1 million bpd decline in Libyan oil production because of the oil port blockade, […]