Crude Oil Down for the Seventh Session in a row

Economic conditions are expected to remain problematic in countries such as China, and factors that have recently fuelled consumption are expected to fade, it said.

USA crude fell for a third session in a row on Friday to the lowest in over two months as a relentless climb in oil stockpiles helped trigger a 10 percent drop in prices since the start of November, with traders taking on bets on further falls.

Brent crude edged up from a sharp drop on Friday, but was on track for the biggest weekly loss in more than two months as swelling stocks weighed on the market.

“It’s another data point highlighting the oil glut in the US, or the global markets for that matter”, said analyst Chris Jarvis of Caprock Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland.

The Paris-based IEA, in a report Tuesday, forecast that oil prices would recover to US$80 a barrel by 2020.

The EIA report “will provide vital clues for the near term price development”, said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia Pacific oil and gas practice at professional services firm EY.

Oil prices were steady on Tuesday after the global Energy Agency noted unprecedented declines in investment, though the overall picture of an oversupplied market limited any gains.

“We… expect the focus of the oil markets to shift to the surplus of refined products, and OPEC highlighted the 210 million barrel inventory overhang in the OECD relative to the five-year average”, it said.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) maintained its output quota of 30 million barrels per day at its June meeting.

Iraq is OPEC’s No. 2 crude producer. OPEC’s report comes before the group meets in Vienna on December 4 to discuss production policy and strategy.

The IEA predicted world oil demand would grow by a slow 1.2 million barrels per day in 2016, and said that, on the supply side, there had been no change in output in October from the powerful OPEC cartel. This is equivalent to around 900,000 barrels per day (bpd), and it is expected to reach demand of 103.5 bpd by 2040.