Good pace of vaccinations could lead to oil recovery by the beginning of 2022 with world oil demand exceeding 96 million barrels per day, UAE's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure has said.

"We're seeing that people in certain parts of the world are starting to go back to normal. That gives me some hope," Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, United Arab Emirates said. There's strong demand in "major economies like China and India", he said speaking at the Atlantic Council's 2021 Global Energy Forum on Tuesday.

The fact that President Biden intends to re-join the Paris climate accord could affect US oil production, he noted, in terms of possible restrictions on production. "All of that is going to be wait-and-see during the years 2021 and 2022."

Looking further into the future, Al Mazrouei predicted that world demand for oil could reach 109 million barrels a day by 2040, surpassing its previous peak, despite efforts to diversify toward renewables.

"I think there is still room to grow beyond 100 million [barrels per day]. It depends on the alternatives, how convenient they are in getting to the market," he said. "We're talking about growth in the population. We're talking about ... many people who cannot afford electricity or a car [who] may do that in the next coming twenty years or so. All of those numbers are not knowns and they will drive demand in my view."

(Reporting by Sowmya Sundar; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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