Rystad Energy: EV may cut demand for refinery by half in 2050

Electric vehicles (EV) will cut global consumption of gasoline and diesel, leading demand for the world's oil refining capacity cut by half in 2050, consultancy Rystad Energy said.

"Going forward we will be touching by 2050 somewhere very close to 90 percent of electrification," Mukesh Sahdev, senior vice president and head of downstream at Rystad Energy said during a virtual conference. Sahdev said that this case would “probably” lead to a 50 percent decline in global refining capacity.

Despite the decrease in demand for fossil fuels by EV, demand from aviation, maritime and petrochemical sectors could remain high.

"How are we going to meet those demands with a 50 percent scale down in refining capacity? I think that's a big signal that we might have a lot of shorts in the sectors which are coming with demand," he added.