IEA likely to lower its oil demand forecasts

PARIS (Reuters) – The International Energy Agency is likely to lower its global oil demand forecasts significantly as more bleak economic data emerges, its chief said on Thursday.

“The possibility for downward revision will be high,” Nobuo Tanaka, the agency’s executive director, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a Paris conference.

“We now have data from not only the IMF, but also the OECD. They all look gloomy. Inevitably, the possible downward revision could be significant, but I cannot say how big.”

The IEA, the energy adviser to 28 developed countries, will release its next monthly oil market report in mid-April.

The agency bases its oil demand forecasts on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been increasingly pessimistic about the health of the economy.

Reuters