Good news due to coronavirus hysteria:

“The amount of oil needed to run the global economy will decline sharply in the first quarter of this year as the coronavirus forces factories to close in China, snarls transportation and hits supply chains.

“Global oil demand in the first three months of 2020 is expected to drop by 435,000 barrels per day compared to a year earlier, according to the International Energy Agency, the first quarterly decline in more than a decade”.

Less oil means less CO2 emissions.

435,000 barrels less per day means 187 million kg of CO2 less per day. You can do this calculation here.

What if we just capped future oil production to the smallest daily amount needed during the outbreak?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Sorry, back to reality oops there goes gravity:

“The agency also marked down its forecast for oil demand growth for the whole of 2020. It is now expected to increase by just 825,000 barrels per day, the weakest annual pace since 2011”.

So, despite the coronavirus adventure, they still expect a massive increase in oil consumption in 2020.

Dwarfing the current decrease.

One feels a bit powerless at times like these.

[Cover photo credit: Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times]