Page 41 - ICE BUSINESS TIMES December 2019

Growth in global oil demand is expected to slow from
2025 as fuel efficiency improves and the use of electric
vehicles increases, but consumption is unlikely to peak
in the next two decades, according to the International
Energy Agency. The Paris-based IEA, which advises
Western governments on energy policy, said in its annual
World Energy Outlook for the period to
2040 that demand growth would continue
GLOBAL OIL marked slowdown in the 2030s. The
to increase even though there would be a
agency’s central scenario - which incorpo-
DEMAND rates existing energy policies and
announced targets - is for the demand for
oil to rise by around 1 million barrels per
SET TO day (bpd) on average every year to 2025,
from 97 million bpd in 2018. Demand is
then seen increasing by 0.1 million bpd a
SLOW DOWN year on average during the 2030s to reach
106 million bpd in 2040.

British annual inflation dropped faster than
INFLATION expected in October to a near three-year low at 1.5
percent as lower energy prices offset rising prices
IN THE for clothes. The Consumer Prices Index 12-month
rate, the lowest since
U.K. DROPS November 2016, compared
with 1.7 percent in
FASTER THAN September. The drop mainly
reflected a slump in energy
EXPECTED inflation and so was not a
reflection of a weakening in
underlying inflationary
pressures. Overall, the figures do little to change
the view that inflation will spend more time below
(the Bank of England’s target of) 2.0 percent than
above it in 2020 and that if Brexit is delayed
further, interest rates will be cut, in May.

A Chinese buy-out marks a new chapter
in the tumultuous history of
steelmaking in the United Kingdom,
which has been characterized by
nationalization, privatizations, and
recurring crises. Despite having an
economy
dominated by
the services REWRITING
sector,
steelmaking BRITISH STEEL
retains a
special place HISTORY THROUGH
in British
hearts, where CHINESE TAKEOVER
it is an
enduring
symbol of a bygone golden industrial
age. The takeover should be a breath of
fresh air for some 4,000 British Steel
employees, most of whom work at the
Scunthorpe site in northern England.

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