OPEC said Thursday it expects oil to retain the largest share of the global energy mix through midcentury, forecasting demand will grow by 19 million barrels a day to around 124 million barrels a day in 2050 — up from 105.2 million barrels a day last year.
“There is no peak oil demand on the horizon,” Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna.
In its annual report on long-term energy trends, the cartel said it expects oil to hold around 30% of the energy mix — and above 50% when combined with gas. Demand growth is being driven by road transportation, aviation and petrochemicals, the group said.
To meet future demand, the oil sector must attract more than $7 billion in annual investment through 2050, OPEC said.
Thursday’s report comes as oil prices fell to their lowest since the start of the Iran war after U.S. President Trump signed a deal to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane that used to carry about one-fifth of global oil supplies. Under the agreement, the U.S. will lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and waive sanctions targeting exports of Iranian oil and other petroleum products, raising expectations that a wave of supply will soon reach global markets.
MSI previously reported that OPEC had cut its 2026 oil-demand growth forecast in early June as the U.S. blockade curbed Iranian output. The cartel’s long-term outlook released Thursday stands in contrast to the International Energy Agency’s forecast a day earlier that oil demand would fall 1.1 million barrels a day this year, with a supply rebound expected in 2027.