Oil demand 'deeply depressed', says IEA

PARIS (AFP)

“We do expect a tapering off in the demand contraction, but we are still left with a very big drop in demand,” said the report’s editor, David Fyfe.

“In our view, recovery really doesn’t start to take root until 2010,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.

The price of oil has risen in recent weeks after falling from a record peak last summer, but the IEA attributed this to optimism among traders rather than any underlying recovery. “Oil markets continue to defy gravity,” it said.

AFP