Oil prices fell on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its forecast for global crude demand in 2020.
The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery lost 43 cents to settle at 42.24 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery dropped 47 cents to close at 44.96 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Global oil demand is expected to be 91.9 million barrels a day (b/d) in 2020, down 8.1 million b/d year on year, the IEA said in its closely-watched monthly report released on Thursday,
"We reduce our 2020 forecast by 140 kb/d (140,000 b/d), the first downgrade in several months, reflecting the stalling of mobility as the number of Covid-19 cases remains high, and weakness in the aviation sector," said the IEA.
While revising down its forecast for global demand, the agency noted that China's oil demand is recovering strongly.
The outlook on the oil market remains somewhat dubious, despite a recent upswing in prices, Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Thursday.
Editor:Cherie
