Crude Oil Falls After IEA Cuts Demand

Crude oil fell in New York after the International Energy Agency said 2009 demand may slump to the lowest in five years as factories shut and car sales tumble amid a deepening global recession.

Oil consumption will fall 2.4 million barrels a day this year, about the same amount that Iraq produces, to 83.4 million barrels a day, the IEA said on April 10 as trading in New York and London was closed for the Good Friday holiday. U.S. crude supplies are at their highest since July 1993, the Energy Department said on April 8.

“Although a lot of people already understood that demand is not good, the IEA report is making speculators bearish,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivative sales manager at brokerage Newedge in Tokyo. “There is still no confidence to buy the market and take long positions.”

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= … lQfrXIn3RU