IEA May Further Cut Oil Demand Forecast

The IEA may further lower its oil demand forecast, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol has revealed in a Bloomberg television interview published on Tuesday.

“We may well revise down our demand numbers in the next days or months to come if the global economy continues to weaken,” Birol told Bloomberg in the interview.

“If there is a need we will revise it down but it will be still a growth in the global oil demand but maybe slightly lower than what we have now,” he added.

In the interview, Birol highlighted that the IEA currently expects oil demand growth of around 1.1 million barrels per day (MMbpd) this year.

The IEA lowered its 2019 oil demand growth forecast from 1.2MMbpd to 1.1MMbpd in August. In June, the IEA cut its 2019 oil demand growth forecast from 1.3MMbpd to 1.2MMbpd and in May the organization lowered its 2019 oil demand growth forecast from 1.4MMbpd to 1.3MMbpd.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) lowered its 2019 oil demand growth forecast to 1.1 MMbpd in July. Last month, the EIA forecasted that global liquid fuels consumption will increase by 0.9 MMbpd this year.

According to Petronas, the oil and gas market is expected to continue to be volatile in the second half of 2019 amid protracted trade issues, sluggish oil demand growth and the slowing global economy.

In September, the EIA cut its 2019 Brent oil price forecast from $65.15 per barrel to $63.39 per barrel. During the same month, Fitch Solutions Macro Research also cut its 2019 Brent oil price forecast from $67 per barrel to $64 per barrel.

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