Demand for oil will peak by 2030

GLOBAL demand for oil will peak within the next two decades, the chief executive of Europe’s largest oil company has said.

Tony Hayward of BP said the plateau would be reached between 2020 and 2030 as falling demand from developed countries balanced growing demand from developing nations.

BP said it was the first time Mr Hayward had put a date on peak demand, following a range of predictions from other bodies.

His comments also suggest Mr Hayward now thinks the peak will come earlier than he had previously thought.

Mr Hayward was reported last summer as saying: “I don’t see it coming anytime in the near future. One day the world will stop demanding oil, but it is decades away in all likelihood.

Scotsman