The oil market will remain tight in the medium term, although soaring prices and slower economic growth are reducing the growth in demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report presented in Madrid on Tuesday.
In its annual medium-term oil market report, the Paris-based IEA said global demand for oil products will grow by an average of1.6 percent per year to 2013, from 86.9 million barrels per day this year to 94.1 million barrels per day in 2013.
It was scaled down from the agency's previous forecast issued last July, which predicted a yearly increase of 2.2 percent to 2012.
The report said high oil prices are clearly affecting consumer behavior and threatening global economic growth, therefore contributing to the downgrade in the growth of demand.
"With oil prices hitting 140 U.S. dollars we are clearly in the third oil shock, with prices affecting economic growth. Truck drivers are going on strike, airlines are closing down," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said at a press conference on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress.
However, the report said supply constraints, refinery limitations and continued growth in demand in emerging markets will maintain pressure on the market in the medium term.
Source:Xinhua
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