IEA forecasts slowdown in demand for oil

The rapid rebound in oil consumption is likely to slow next year as western countries adopted more fuel-efficient vehicles and the recovery faded, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

The Paris-based energy watchdog for 28 industrialised countries predicted that oil demand would grow by 1.35m barrels a day next year to 87.84m barrels a day.

The change would be less than the 1.77m b/d gain in oil demand predicted for 2010 compared with 2009.