IEA said on Friday that the oil market would turn into a crude supply shortfall beginning in the second quarter of this year, while OPEC has significant production capacity to prevent any price hikes if supplies fail.
The agency, which coordinates energy policies in industrialized countries, kept its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2019 unchanged at 1.4 million bpd.
Strong growth outside of OPEC should ensure demand is met, the agency said. The market could see a modest surplus in the first quarter of 2019 before it turned into a shortfall of about 0.5 million bpd in the second quarter, it added.
