Is this the end game for oil?

[U.S. President Donald Trump, saying:] "There's so much production, no one knows what to do with it."

Analysts have-long tried to predict when the world would reach “peak oil” - the point after which consumption permanently falls.

It seems that tipping point may be here - hastened by the coronavirus.

The pandemic shredded demand, as it kept people out of planes and cars.

Daily crude consumption fell by as much as a third earlier this year - sending prices to the bottom of the barrel, and stockpiles soaring.

All major regions of the world are currently at 75% more of their storage capacity.

[U.S. President Donald Trump, saying:] "Frankly, there's not enough room to even store it. Our storage is now full, going to be very soon, our strategic national storage is, I said this is a great time to fill it up, load it up with oil that, frankly, is at pricing that nobody's ever seen before.”

While lockdowns may have been temporary, consumption may never fully recover.

That’s caused soul-searching at OPEC: the group of producer nations that is oil’s most powerful proponent.

It's trying to figure out how to best manage supplies, as everyone seeks to keep wells running and protect their market share.

The group will need to manage closer cooperation with non-OPEC producers, too - such as Russia.

It’s a prospect that has been a long time coming.

Oil dominated energy use in the 20th century.

But its percentage share of the global energy mix has steadily fallen.

That may seem contradictory, as consumption has clearly risen.

There’s been more cars on the roads, rising air travel and a petrochemical industry that churns out plastics.

Oil made up about 40% of energy used in 1994, but it was only 33% in 2019.

And that share is only likely to diminish as more electric vehicles hit the roads, airlines struggle to recover, and companies pivot to green energy.

It leaves OPEC with a mounting challenge.

Oil prices are already well below the level most governments need to balance their budgets, including Saudi Arabia, the group’s de facto leader.

OPEC is certainly no stranger to crises.

It managed supply shocks during Gulf conflicts in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s and adapted when rival producers turned on the taps, like the U.S. shale oil industry.

Yet what comes next promises to be a new test of the group's mettle.

Instead of one-off shocks, OPEC must learn to live with long-term decline.