Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter The International Energy Agency (IEA) has lowered its estimate of global oil demand for this year in response to China's Covid-19 outbreak and lower-than-expected consumption in the US and other OECD economies so far this year. In its latest monthly Oil Market Report, the IEA now pegs demand for the current year at 99.4 million b/d — down 260,000 b/d from its March estimate. The agency notes that large releases of oil from the stockpiles of the US and other IEA member nations have brought "welcome relief" to a tight market. This has helped bring crude prices down from their March highs of more than $120/bbl following Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. But the IEA adds that prices "remain troublingly high and are a serious threat for the global economic outlook." The agency now estimates that sanctions and voluntary decisions to boycott its oil will force Russia to shut in an average of 1.5 million b/d of supply in April, rising to 3 million b/d in May as it runs out of storage capacity. The IEA had previously forecast that the higher figure could be reached by April.
