Oil prices at $70 per barrel and higher increase the risk of slowing demand growth against the backdrop of uncertainties in global economy, International Energy Agency said in its Oil Market Report.
"Oil prices at $70/bbl for Brent are less comfortable for consumers than they were at the start of the year," the reports says. The IEA recalls that it "has regularly warned of the dangers of prices rising even higher."
According to the report, only time will tell if the EIA current demand forecast (1.4 mb/d) proves accurate, but the "risks are currently to the downside."
The agency said that overall demand in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries fell by 0.3 mb/d y-o-y in the fourth quarter of last year, the first such fall for any quarter since the end of 2014.
The IEA analytics said it is likely to have fallen again in the first quarter of 2019 due to "weakness in some European economies, with perhaps more to come if there is a disorderly Brexit."
