World oil demand to shrink sharply this year: IEA

LONDON (Reuters)

“Forecast global oil demand has been sharply revised down for 2009, following a reassessment of global economic prospects,” the adviser to industrialized nations said in its monthly report.

“Global GDP growth has been roughly halved to 1.2 percent, given the worsening outlook in OECD and non-OECD countries alike. The expected two-year contraction in oil demand will be the first since the early 1980s.”