IEA blames falling stock levels for $100 oil

PARIS (AFP) – The International Energy Agency attributed recent record oil prices above 100 dollars per barrel to tensions in the market caused by falling stock levels in top consuming countries.

“The most recent rise would appear the easiest to explain: OECD stocks have been falling since July 2007, reflecting a tightening physical market,” the organisation said in its monthly oil report.


The OECD area includes the 30 member countries of the Organisation for Cooperation and Development, which includes north America, Europe and Asia’s most industrialised economies.

“Total OECD oil inventories are now below five-year average levels,” the IEA report said.

This would appear to be at odds with oil export cartel OPEC whose secretary general, Abdullah al-Badri, told AFP on Wednesday that the market was adequately supplied and that OECD stocks were within their five-year averages.

AFP