Oil demand won't recover to 2019 levels until end of 2021: Morgan Stanley

The Wall Street bank expects benchmark US oil prices to stabilise at around $40 a barrel next year

Global oil demand will take until the last quarter of 2021 to recover to its 2019 levels as countries emerge slowly from the coronavirus crisis, Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday.

"The demand recovery will be somewhat muted, and we could see some structural changes to people's behaviour," Morgan Stanley's head of oil research Martijn Rats told reporters.

The Wall Street bank expects benchmark US oil prices to stabilise at around $40 a barrel and Brent crude prices to steady at around $45 a barrel next year.