LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Oil demand is set to fall year on
year in the first quarter for the first time since the depths of
the financial crisis in 2009 hurt by the coronavirus outbreak in
China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.
"The consequences of Covid-19 for global oil demand will be
significant. Demand is now expected to contract by 435,000
barrels per day (bpd) in Q1, the first quarterly decrease in
more than a decade," the Paris-based IEA said in a monthly
report, using the new scientific name for the virus.
"For 2020 as a whole, we have reduced our global growth
forecast by 365,000 bpd to 825,000 bpd, the lowest since 2011,"
the IEA said, adding that it assumed economic activity from the
second quarter would return progressively to normal.
In the second quarter it said it expected oil demand to grow
1.2 million barrels per day before normalising in the third
quarter with growth of 1.5 million bpd on likely economic
stimulus measures in China.
It forecast a fall in demand for oil produced by OPEC while
output growth by U.S. companies might not be impacted until
later in the year.
OPEC output in January sank to its lowest level since the
2009 global recession, the IEA said, as a blockade reduced
Libyan exports and the UAE reined in production.
"With Covid-19 potentially hitting demand hard in H1,
producers are under pressure to make further cuts," it said.
OPEC, Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+,
have agreed to cut output by 1.7 million bpd until the end of
March to support the market.
OPEC+ is considering holding an extraordinary policy meeting
to consider deeper cuts, sources said.