The International Energy Agency on Friday revised down its forecast for world oil demand in 2010, saying trade would be "sluggish" in rich nations and growth would come only from emerging economies. The IEA forecast that demand would be 1.44 million barrels per day (mbd) this year, compared to its 2010 estimate made last month of 1.47 mbd.
The Paris-based agency also warned of possible "downside risks" to economic recovery in the member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a grouping of 30 of the world's richest economies. "Oil demand recovery in the OECD will likely remain sluggish," it said, adding: "Demand growth in 2010 derives entirely from outside the OECD."
The IEA said 2010 demand would rise 1.7 percent from 2009 to 86.3 mbd. The report also explained that much of that increase would come from Asian markets and some of it from Latin America and the former Soviet Union. In the United States, the world's biggest economy and largest oil consumer, the IEA said "demand continues to fall relative to a very weak baseline." "The US economy remains fragile," the IEA added.