Oil & gas giant describes 2020 “as a year like no other”

Oil and gas giant BP on July 8 published its benchmark Statistical Review of World Energy, describing 2020 “as a year like no other” due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global energy, Report informs referring to CNBC.

Over the past seven decades, BP said it had borne witness to some of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the global energy system, including the Suez Canal crisis in 1956, the oil embargo of 1973, the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

“All moments of great turmoil in global energy,” Spencer Dale, chief economist at BP, said in the report. “But all pale in comparison to the events of last year.”

BP said the coronavirus crisis last year resulted in primary energy and carbon emissions falling at their fastest rates since World War II. Global oil production shrank by 6.6 million barrels, with oil producer group OPEC accounting for two-thirds of that decline.

The price of international benchmark Brent crude averaged $41.84 in 2020, the energy giant said, its lowest level since 2004. The oil contract was last seen trading at $73.70.

Gas prices also fell to record lows. Consumption fell by 81 billion cubic meters or 2.3 percent.

To the greatest extent, this affected the producing countries:

Russia (minus 33 billion cubic meters)

US (minus 17 billion cubic meters)

At the same time, consumption in China and Iran, on the contrary, increased (plus 22 and 10 billion cubic meters, respectively).