The International Energy Agency (IEA) trimmed its forecast for global oil demand growth less than two months ago, and another adjustment may be in the works. Fatih Birol, the head of the agency, told Reuters on September 27 that the IEA might make another downward revision to this index.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, Birol said that concerns about the world economy were having an adverse effect on the outlook for demand growth in 2019 and 2020. “If the global economy weakens, [a possibility] for which there are already some signs, we may lower oil demand expectations,” he commented.
He made particular note of the fact that the Chinese economy was now expanding much more slowly than it had in the past, with growth rates hitting a 27-year low of 6.2% in the second quarter of 2019. This development is a concern, since China is an important driver of global oil demand growth, he explained.
Birol did not say when the IEA might take action on this front. The agency said in August that it expected world oil demand to rise by 1.1 million barrels per day in 2019 and 1.3 million bpd in 2020.