Even the oil giants can now foresee the end of the gasoline age

The fall in fuel use during the pandemic has caused Shell and BP to fundamentally reappraise their future profitabilityCoronavirus has dealt the fossil-fuel industry the biggest single blow in its history, and it is clear that 2020's plummeting demand for oil and gas is no mere flesh wound. The global Covid-19 crisis may have already triggered a terminal decline for big oil.BP's decision last week to reset its oil price forecasts for the next three decades was the latest tremor in a seismic shift for the industry. Its forecasts of a $75-a-barrel oil price over the next 30 years were scrapped in favour of an average price of $55. The watershed decision wiped more than $17bn from the value of its business at a stroke and could mean many of its untapped oil reserves will remain in the ground. Continue reading...