World oil consumption will increase less quickly than expected this year and next as the pace of global economic growth slows, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.
In its monthly oil market report, the Paris-based agency said financial and economic headwinds were gathering momentum and the oil market supply-demand balance could ease in the short term if recent supply disruptions receded.
“It is possible that we could see an easing in the tightness of the market in the months ahead,” said David Fyfe, head of the IEA’s oil industry and markets division.
The IEA cut its estimate of global oil demand growth this year by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.04 million bpd and trimmed its 2012 demand growth estimate by 190,000 bpd to 1.42 million bpd.
The agency, which advises industrialized countries on energy policy, now sees world oil demand rising to 89.28 million bpd this year increasing to 90.69 million bpd in 2012.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the U.S. government Department of Energy have also both cut their forecasts for global oil demand growth this month.
The IEA raised its forecast for Libyan crude oil production capacity by the end of this year and said OPEC oil output had also risen, helping increase industry inventories in the developed industrialized economies.
