World oil demand will rise back above 100 million barrels per day, a level last reached in 2019, as soon as the second quarter of next year, according to major forecasters, challenging views that the pandemic may curb oil use for longer or for good. The International Energy Agency, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the U.S. government’s Energy Administration all updated their world oil demand and supply estimates in monthly reports in the past week. “Economies are reopening and recovering further from the pandemic,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank. “A peak in demand and it starting to decline is still some years off.” Before the pandemic, the rise of electric cars and a shift to renewable energy were already prompting downward revisions in long-term oil demand forecasts. As COVID-19 dented fuel use, oil companies, producers and analysts brought forward views […]