Canadian oil investor Eric Nuttall says he’s not worried about near-term impacts from the global shift to clean energy. Nuttall, who has been persistently bullish on the commodity, said he still predicts strong demand for oil over the next few decades even as governments push for adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) – though he noted that policy shift presents a “fair concern” for oil companies.
In an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Tuesday, Nuttall said passenger vehicles make up about a quarter of oil demand, and he thinks other drivers of demand such as jet fuel and petrochemicals will remain strong in future decades.
“We think that even under aggressive EV adoption rates, (oil) demand will grow to at least the mid 2030s, and we think that demand will not fall lower than it is today, until 2040 (to) 2045,” said Nuttall, partner and senior portfolio manager of Ninepoint Partners.
“There's moderate worries several decades from now. In the next several years, I'm not worried whatsoever.”
West Texas Intermediate was priced at US$81.09 per barrel as of Tuesday morning.
Nuttall said oil has had a “good rally” recently and he expects oil will close out the year at around $80 per barrel, given the state of current inventories.
“We think we should strengthen as we go throughout the year,” he said.