Industry concerns that a global economic slowdown could greatly reduce oil demand growth are growing. The IEA says in its latest Oil Market Report (OMR) that “we expect growth in 2019 to be the weakest since 2016, following evidence of a slowdown in several major consuming regions and countries, including Europe, India, Japan, Korea and the US.”

Certainly, as participants at this week’s Oil & Money conference in London repeatedly noted, as far as oil prices are concerned bearish sentiment on demand is clearly outweighing any ‘risk premium’. Even with Opec production at multi-year lows, sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia suffering a major attack, Brent is stuck at around $60/B. (CONTINUED - 943 WORDS)