Dr. Fatih Birol is Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), he spoke to reporters at a meeting of Group of 20 energy ministers in India over the weekend.
He said that the IEA revisions to its global oil demand growth projections "is very much dependent on the growth of many countries in the second half, but mainly Chinese growth prospects"
Which is not very surprising at all. China's economic stutter has withdrawn some demand from the oil market, improvement there will boost demand.
He was asked if there was a possibility of lower demand projections, and again outlined some pretty obvious stuff:
- "Yes, but there is also a possibility of revising up, so we will see how the Chinese economic prospects will look like."
And finally made a firmer forecast:
- "But in any case we see a tightening in the second half of the year."
