Analysis: Oil's journey from worthless in the pandemic to $100 a barrel
Feb 24 (Reuters) — In July 2020, just a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic started to spiral out of control, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden declared world oil demand may have passed its peak — all but condemning his company’s core business to eventual obscurity.
“Demand will take a long time to recover if it recovers at all,” he told reporters after the Anglo-Dutch energy company reported a sharp drop in second-quarter profit.
Related Knowledge Center: Energy security and pricing
The United States achieved net energy independence in 2020, but that has not insulated the nation from the roiling of energy markets in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Europe has been a large consumer of Russian natural gas, and the effort to wean itself, with the help of the United States, has strained markets and endangered global efforts to address the climate crisis.