BY AGENCIES
GLOBAL oil demand will grow by less than 1 percent in 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday, cutting its oil growth demand forecast for a sixth consecutive month due to a weak global economy.
The agency, which provides energy advice to the world's most industrialised nations, cut its global oil demand growth forecast for this year by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 800,000 bpd.
"This month's report dwells on recent economic downgrades, and resultant weaker oil products demand growth for 2012," the IEA said. "This is providing a ceiling for otherwise stubbornly-high crude prices."
The IEA cited a cut by the International Monetary Fund in its economic projections with the global economy now expected to expand by 3.3 percent in 2012, a "sharp deterioration" from its previously assume 4 percent growth.
Oil demand in the most industrialised nations is expected to fall by 0.8 percent, with gasoline accounting for more than 40 percent of the decline.
The IEA said latest preliminary statistics for December pointed to a sharp fall in North American oil demand, down 4.1 percent year-on-year, despite reports of economic resilience.
It linked this to sharp declines for heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) thanks to an unseasonably mild winter in the United States.
In line with the weak economic outlook, European oil demand was likely to post the greatest relative decline in 2012, the IEA said, down by 0.3 million bpd from 2011.
"Much of Europe already saw declines in economic activity in 4Q11, and with further drops assumed for the 1Q12, this equates to the technical definition of recession," it said.
A combination of a worsening external environment and weakening internal demand also curtailed the IMF's estimate for economic growth in the emerging economies, to 5.4 percent for 2012, from 6.1 percent.
However, the IEA said the non-OECD region will see demand growth of 1.2 million bpd or 2.8 percent in 2012, helping offset the reduction in OECD consumption.
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