1st annual decline in oil use in decade: IEA

Paris: The world is set for its first annual decline in oil consumption in more than a decade due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the IEA said on Monday.

In its latest report -- which did not take into account an oil price war after Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree to continue production cuts - the International Energy Agency chopped its current demand forecast by 1.1 million barrels per day (mbd) in its base case scenario as the coronavirus continues to spread around the world.

That would make for a small annual drop of 90,000 barrels per day, the first since 2009. That forecast, however, is based on the assumption that China brings the outbreak there under control by the end of the month and that containment measures elsewhere have less of an impact on demand.

Oil consumption tanked in February, with the IEA estimating it fell by 4.2 mbd from the same month last year, of which 3.6 mbd was in China.